Out of the Past and Into the Fire
by redwolffclaw
Summary: 2nd in Moonlighting Series: Shawn is just starting to get used to his new life as a vampire when things take a turn and someone from his Sire's past comes to pay him a visit. Now the stakes are higher as Shawn has to protect not just his friends and family, but all of Santa Barbara from the new threat. NOW COMPLETE. Set after "No Such Thing As Psychics" and "12:04 Wake Up Call"
1. Another Day in Paradise

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

**I'm posting this in the regular Psych stories for now due to an idea from a reader. :) Hope everyone likes it.**

**This is the sequel to my other Psych/moonlight crossover called. "No Such Thing As Psychics" You will need to read that one first in order to understand this one.**

**There will be spoilers through season 6 on Psych and for the whole of Moonlight  
**

**I do not own any characters or plot lines for Psych or Moonlight.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 1- Another Day in Paradise**

Shawn Spencer, vampire psychic Detective, felt at home as soon as he walked into the front doors of the Santa Barbara Police Department. Gus was on his pharmaceutical route today and Shawn got bored sitting at the office so he decided to go for a ride in his new car. He definitely needed a bit of familiarity and comfort after the week he had. Shawn and Carlton had dubbed it "Vampire Boot Camp" at first but it ended up being almost a long torture session. They had been stabbed, shot, staked, and pretty much tested to their limits for a week straight. He knew it had been necessary but without a doubt Shawn could say that he was completely exhausted.

Setting his sunglasses up on his head and looking around the station, Shawn noticed Carlton almost immediately. He was busy writing at his desk, apparently he wanted the familiar too since he wasn't supposed to come back to work until tomorrow. "Hey Lassie!" Shawn greeted, "The offer of free gun cleaning today draw you in? I don't think they brought enough supplies to clean all the fire arms you keep around though. They might have to make a second trip just for you."

Carlton gave Shawn an annoyed look. "Very funny Spencer. I don't have time for your little chats. I am very busy this morning. Go bug O'Hara or something."

Taken aback at the bluntness of the brush off Shawn mumbled, "Geez, someone got up on the wrong side of the freezer this morning…" but he had a good idea. He would have to go see his girlfriend Juliet.

It wasn't Juliet who he ran into next though, it was Buzz McNabb, an officer friend of his. He and Shawn had been a little apprehensive towards each other lately because of an incident when Shawn was first turned, so it was a surprise when a smiling Buzz walked up and initiated an elbow bump.

"Wow Buzz, you seem to be in a good mood…" Shawn observed warily.

"I feel great! Like a million bucks!" Buzz gave Shawn a wide toothy grin… a wide sharp toothy grin.

Shawn's eyes widened and he none too gently grabbed Buzz's arm and pulled him into the closest empty room. In a panicked whisper he asked the officer, "_What the hell happened when I was gone? Who turned you?_"

Buzz thought about it for a second before replying, "That guy from the records room. I can't remember his name and I don't know who turned him but WOW!" He gave a loud chuckle, "I can't believe how great I feel!" Buzz eyes turned white as he gave Shawn an angry glare. "You were going to be selfish weren't you?" Shawn gave Buzz a worried look as the large man stepped towards him menacingly. "You have this great gift and you were never going to share! But someone was very very generous." He trailed off into a loud evil sounding laugh.

Shawn took that opportunity to run out of the room. He glanced outside and paused, "When did it become night?" Looking around he also noticed a lot more people wearing sunglasses than normal, and for some reason they were all wearing campy red and black capes. "Oh no…" Shawn did not like the looks of this at all.

Shawn felt a tap on his shoulder and he squealed in a very manly way as he turned to face the tapper. It was a very surprised Woody who had a coffee pot in his hand. "Whoa there tiger!" He exclaimed. "I just wanted to know if you wanted a drink. I made a fresh pot." Woody pointed to the coffee pot which was filled to the brim with blood.

Looking from the coffee pot back to Woody, Shawn saw him smile and show fangs. He backed nervously away and put his hands up, "No man, I am good."

Woody shrugged nonchalantly, "Suit yourself." Woody started drinking directly from the pot, spilling blood all over the floor in splatters causing half the station to run over with coffee cups begging for some of the red liquid.

Horrified and disgusted, Shawn ran for the Chief's office for help. He backed into the room, facing the door to make sure he wasn't followed. "Karen! We have a serious problem!" He stated before turning around to address her directly. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Chief Vick, complete with vampire cape, had his dad in her grip and was biting his neck.

Chief Vick looked up and growled, "How many times do I have to ask you to knock before you enter Mr. Spencer!"

Shawn rushed forward and pulled her forcefully off his father. "Get off him!" Shawn felt his own face change because of the anger and fear he felt trying to protect his dad.

Karen landed in the middle of the room after Shawn's throw. "Mr. Spencer! How dare you!"

Remembering what Mick taught him, even in his enraged state, Shawn let out a screechy roar at Karen. It was meant to be a dominance display to put weaker or younger vampires in their place. Mick showed him this in case he ever had to order Carlton to do something, or stop doing something, and hoped he wouldn't ever have to use it. Not only was it a bit humiliating but it would completely give away that he, and not an insane vampire named Aaron, was Carlton's sire. Which Carlton could NEVER know.

Sure enough, Karen covered her face and shrank defensively away from the stronger vampire. "What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Shawn yelled angrily at the woman cowering on the floor.

"Shawn, I was just turning him." Karen answered shakily, "I wasn't really going to hurt him!"

Growling in frustration, Shawn picked Karen off the floor. "What is going on? Why is everyone turned into vampires?"

Before she could answer, Carlton burst into the office followed by ten of the other turned officers and Buzz. He had his hair slicked back and one of the capes on. Blood was also dripping down his chin from his extended fangs. "What in the name of all that is justice is going on here?"

"Lassie?" Shawn looked over Karen's shoulder. "What happened to you? Don't you notice that everyone in the station has been turned into a vampire!" Shawn glanced around uneasily at all the capes, "Really flamboyant ones, but still!"

Giving Shawn a seriously creepy smile Carlton gloated, "I know. I did it."

"Excuse me?" Shawn's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Spencer, I wouldn't expect you to understand so I will put it into small words…This station will now be unstoppable! Can't you see it? A city filled with vampire cops will make the streets safe again!" Carlton ranted.

Letting go of Karen so his hands were free to protect himself Shawn screamed, "Are you insane? Mick and Josef are gonna kill you for this! How could you pull this crap after what they taught you?"

Carlton laughed. "Let them try Spencer! I have an army at my disposal now!"

Shawn could see Carlton had gone completely power mad. He had to do something. "I am not going to let you do this Lassiter, you are completely nuts."

"You are not going to stand in the way of a perfect world Spencer!" Carlton rushed Shawn and bowled him over. Landing on his back, Shawn covered his face as he blocked Carlton's blows. Shawn kept trying to suppress his instincts and his rage to be able to stay rational but he was slipping. He gritted his teeth and kept on the defensive.

Carlton pulled Shawn's face up to his and sneered, "You are a pathetic vampire! Weak! You don't deserve the power it gives you. That is why Aaron turned me, because you were too much of a disappointment. What irony, a failure in both your fathers' eyes."

That last statement struck a nerve and Shawn's resolve broke. His predatory mind burst to the surface as his instinct to dominate his fledgling kicked in. He locked eyes with Carlton and grabbed both his hands in a crushing grip. Growling, Shawn tossed him backwards and quickly stood.

Realization flooded Carlton's features as the truth of what had just happened sunk in. "No, It can't be!" He looked at Shawn in horror.

"Shut it Lassie, you insolent fledgling!" Shawn blanched. "Did Aaron's words just come out of my mouth?" Shawn thought as he fought to regain control. Aaron had said those same words to Shawn after kidnapping him.

The other officers, including Karen and Buzz saw the display and stared at Shawn reverently. Karen stepped forward and kneeled, grasping at Shawn's hand. "Shawn, you must lead us!"

"Um, what?" Shawn yanked his hand away from Karen and backed up, "What are you talking about?"

Carlton stood, keeping his eyes on Shawn he yelled, "Bring her forward!" A path was made and two officers came through with Juliet struggling between them. She was wearing a pink dress and had a tiara in her hair. If Shawn didn't know better she looked like Princess Peach from Mario.

"Shawn!" She shouted as she noticed him. "What is going on?"

As soon as she was within reach Shawn pushed her protectively behind him. His gaze dared any of the other officers to try and come near her. "Are you alright Jules?" he glanced behind him into her frightened eyes.

Carlton gazed at Shawn and gestured at Juliet. "She is yours to turn Spencer. We need her powerful enough to be my partner. Then Justice will be delivered to all the scum in the city!"

"Yes Shawn, turn me…" Juliet said from behind him.

Shawn turned to face her with a surprised look. Instead of a pink frilly dress, she now had on a sexy red dress with sparkly sequence that showed off her curves nicely. "You can't be serious Jules!" Shawn complained. "Lassie has gone off the deep end! I need you to be your rational, level headed self."

Juliet pouted and moved her face closer to Shawn's. "But I love you Shawn. Don't you love me?" She bared her neck.

"Of course I do." Shawn breathed as his eyes focused on her exposed skin.

"Then do it, we could be together forever, and ever, and ever, and ever…" Juliet's voice echoed through Shawn's thoughts as he looked up into his reflection in the office window. Instead of seeing his own reflection, he saw his sire Aaron's staring back at him with a sadistic grin.

Shawn screamed out, "NO!" As the reflection bent over Juliet's reflection with fangs extended to bite her neck.

* * *

"NO!" Shawn screamed as his eyes shot open and his hands flew up protectively before smacking into something with a loud bang.

Shawn whimpered and rubbed his hands. Looking around he realized he was still in his freezer bed. It had just been a nightmare. Slumping back down into his pillow he tried to slow his beating heart. He remembered another dream where his subconscious told him that his imagination was dark and ridiculous. He could now say without a doubt that it really really was.

Looking at the clock next to the freezer, it read 9am. It was time to get up and head to the psych office. Gus told him last night they had an appointment at 10am. Pulling himself out of his freezer and actually remembering to shut the lid this time, he headed immediately for the fridge. He had a lock installed on it just in case, so no one would accidentally discover a refrigerator full of nothing but blood packs. That wouldn't be suspicious at all.

Shawn grabbed a bag before relocking the fridge. He plopped down in front of the TV and turned on the news.

"…suspected arson but no conclusive results have come in yet. Most of the homes or businesses have been in the Northwest half of California but other unexplained fires have popped up as far South as Los Angeles…."

Shawn made a face. Vampires and fire were a bad combination. He had learned that when a vampire came in contact with fire whatever part did the contacting turned to ash almost instantly. He shuddered at the thought of Aaron's fate. Josef said he had been burned to death as soon as he reached LA after everything that had happened a couple weeks ago. Even if Aaron was a murdering sadistic bastard, it would be hard for Shawn to wish that kind of death on anyone.

Finishing the blood, he stood up and decided to get dressed and to quit stalling. Grabbing his blue striped long sleeve shirt and jeans he slipped them on. Heading into the bathroom he groaned when he saw his hair. Grabbing his heavy duty hair gel he expertly molded his head full of frizzy spikes into a suave style Shawn knew most men would die for and at least one woman would kill for.

Smiling at the thought of Juliet, Shawn was glad when she came for a couple day visit during boot camp. Alex, Morgan's fiancé, and Beth, Mick's girlfriend, got along great with Juliet and promised to keep in touch if they ever needed to talk. In Shawn's opinion Beth was a life saver. She was able to explain to Juliet how to deal with having a relationship with a vampire and some tidbits she would need to know. Shawn made a mental note to send her a thank you note and some chocolates.

Taking one last look in the mirror, Shawn rushed out of his apartment to the bright green vehicle with a "PSYCH" logo. He revved the engine, loving the noise it made, then pulled out to head towards the Psych office. He hoped Gus would not hate him for being a little late if he brought him a smoothie.


	2. A Blond Bombshell

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

**Thanks to all who have reviewed and kept up with this story! Your support is really appreciated. **

* * *

Pulling up to the Psych office, Shawn saw another vehicle parked in the lot that he didn't recognize. Looking at the time he saw it was already 10:08am. "Well, at least I am not that late." Shawn mumbled to himself as he stepped out of the car carrying a beverage tray with three smoothies.

Shawn had to pass the other vehicle in order to get to the Psych office. He noticed it was an almost brand new cherry red sports car. "Very nice." Shawn gazed at it in approval as he walked up to the office. Passing closer to the car a strange scent caught Shawn's attention. His head whipped to look at the car again and he approached it. Concentrating and sniffing deeply Shawn caught glimpses of a woman, he could smell her perfume, very strongly, and there was something else… but Shawn couldn't figure out what it was that perfume smell was too strong. Shaking away the vision, he blinked and looked up. One of the vendors from the boardwalk had seen him go up and sniff at the car. Awkward.

Thinking quickly, Shawn made up a good excuse. Yelling so the man could hear him over the ocean he said, "NEW CAR SMELL!" He wafted at the car with his hand. "Oh yeah! It is addicting! Don't ever get hooked on it because, man! It is hard to quit!"

The vendor stared for just a moment more before shaking his head and continuing on his route. "That was close." Shawn thought before hurrying into the office.

Entering the office, Shawn wrinkled his nose and sneezed. Whoever was in here was a woman and she was wearing more perfume than an entire bridge club. Shawn ended up having to breathe through his mouth to stop himself from marathon sneezing. Shawn could see that Gus was talking to the woman who was facing away from the door. Shawn suppressed a smile when he saw that Gus was having to breathe through his mouth as well due to his own sensitive nose.

Gus noticed Shawn and scowled. "Shawn! You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago."

"Gus, you know I cannot function and start my day without a dose of delicious flavor." Gus knew Shawn didn't really need to eat but since he found out he could still ingest food he did his best to keep up appearances. Shawn walking around not eating would definitely turn more than a few heads. "Are you going to introduce me to this lovely lady?" Shawn continued and handed each of them a smoothie.

The woman turned around to look at Shawn. She was stunning. Silky straight blond hair, with blue green eyes. Gus was already smitten with her and was secretly glad he got a few minutes alone to talk to such a gorgeous woman.

Looking at the smoothie the woman took it politely but did not drink it. Instead she introduced herself, "My name is Sandra Williams. You must be the infamous Shawn Spencer."

Shawn could immediately tell that Sandra was not her real name. A small hesitation before saying it was enough for Shawn to realize that though she had probably picked out the name ahead of time, she was still not used to saying it. Giving "Sandra" a quick look over he could tell she had money, lots of money. The women's Rolex, diamond ring, and earrings were all real but none of them were large or gaudy. Shawn figured it meant that this woman was the one with the money and not some Sugar Daddy she needed to show off for.

"Well hello Sandra…" He reached out and shook her hand. "What brings you to our office?"

"Sandra here was just telling me someone is after her." Gus explained.

Sandra nodded. "That's right. My house was burned down a couple days ago. Thank God no one was in it, but I know it was not an accident."

"Is there any reason why someone would want you dead?" Gus inquired.

Shawn saw Sandra shift uncomfortably. Her body language was screaming that she was nervous and doing her best to stay calm. Narrowing his eyes he saw her bite her lip and straighten in her chair. She was about to lie, again.

"I am a rather public figure where I am from." Sandra explained. "It could be a stalker or something."

Putting his finger to his head, Shawn played the psychic card. Going with his gut instinct he stated, "I am getting that the arsonurderer knows you personally. This wasn't some act of a random dude." He had to see if she was lying about not knowing who it was. "Which is why you never went to the police."

As Shawn expected, she was taken aback at his statement. "Well, I…" She started before Shawn noticed her eyes pale ever so slightly for an instant.

"Crap." Shawn thought. "That's why she is wearing so much perfume, to hide her scent from me." Shawn's eyes moved to Gus who was sitting closer to the other vampire than he was. Shawn analyzed her body language and came to the unfortunate realization that the woman was not only nervous… she had to be starving.

Shawn slowly stood up. "Gus. Could you do me a favor and grab something from the kitchen for me? I am feeling a bit peckish and this smoothie is just not filling enough."

"Shawn, I am not your servant. You are a fully capable grown man who can go get his own damn food." Gus went back to making googly eyes at Sandra.

"Gus, the _pineapple_ smoothie is just not very satisfying. Are you _sure_ you won't go grab us something to eat?" Shawn hoped his friend would get the hint this time.

Gus looked up at Shawn and saw the wide eyed expression on his face. Something was wrong. Rising Gus complied with Shawn's request, "I'm just going to go get something then…" He said straight faced with a nervous glance at Shawn.

Sandra watched the exchange with a puzzled look. "Is there something wrong Mr. Spencer? Do you sense something else?"

"You could say that. I see something else on fire besides your house, it's your pants. Cuz you are a liar, with your pants on fire." Shawn curled his lip in mock contempt.

"What are you talking about?" Sandra was getting angry at Shawn's outburst.

Shawn looked behind him and saw Gus was watching from around the corner in the kitchen. Safely out of harm's way if this got ugly. "Your perfume trick may have worked to dull my super senses but it doesn't work against this…." Putting his hand to his head again he raised his eyebrow. "The spirits could tell you were a vampire from a mile away!"

Sandra appeared genuinely taken aback. She stood instantly and looked back and forth between Shawn and Gus before running out the door.

Gus and Shawn stood there with surprised looks on their faces. Neither had expected that reaction out of her. They watched as she ran past the picture window and hopped in her car. Turning towards each other and shrugging, neither saw the car erupt into a ball of fire before the window they were standing at burst inward from the concussion blast. Shouting in surprise both ducked down as glass sprayed all over the office.

After a minute, they braved looking over the edge of the window pane to survey the parking lot. All the glass on both of their cars was blown out but the fire itself stayed centralized on the now flaming red car.

Without taking his eyes off the scene in front of him, Shawn dialed Jules' number.

Juliet answered in a panic, "Shawn! Are you ok? We just got a call about an explosion near your office."

"Gus and I are fine, but we may have a serious problem…."

"OH MY GOD MY CAR!" Gus wailed as sirens sounded in the distance.

* * *

A half hour later both Lassiter and Juliet had heard their story and the fire truck was finishing putting out the car.

Shawn shook his head. "I have no clue why she ran out. She had to have known that I was a vampire to have worn the perfume. I couldn't smell anything past that stuff."

"She didn't say her real name or give any indication of who would want her dead?" Carlton knew his day was going to start out crazy but he can never figure out why he is always so surprised when it is Shawn's fault almost every time.

"Just the fake name. We can at least see if the plates on the car can get us a real one." Frustration was oozing off Carlton in waves making Shawn antsy.

"What's wrong with you Spencer?" Carlton saw Shawn's uncharacteristic jitteriness.

"Nothing much Lassie. Just happy to be around my girl." Shawn wasn't exactly lying.

Carlton growled before walking off, "Keep the public displays at a minimum Spencer. This is a crime scene!"

Shawn moved closer to Juliet once Carlton returned to inspecting the crime scene. "How are you doing?"

Smiling at her boyfriend Juliet stated, "I am doing pretty good. I missed you." Juliet grabbed his hand and held it. "Have you been to your dad's house since being back?"

"Not yet. I was going to see my Papa Monkey after the appointment but you can see how that turned out." Shawn shrugged.

"I would still go see him for lunch if I were you. Let him know that you are ok?" Juliet knew Shawn and Henry's relationship might be as strained as theirs was but Beth had told her it was important to let Shawn know that they all still cared about him and realize he is still the same person.

"Ok, for you I will go see what my Dad is up to. I will see you later this afternoon at the station alright?" Shawn received a kiss on the cheek before Juliet joined her partner across the parking lot to question some of the vendors that were around when the incident happened.

Gus came out from the office and grabbed Shawn, pulling him towards the building. "Whoa buddy, what's the rush? I'd say where is the fire but at that point it would be a bit redundant."

"This is not funny Shawn, someone died out there." Gus complained. "And what has been up with you lately!"

Shawn was distracted while watching Juliet and Carlton over Gus' shoulder. "What did you say Gus?"

"I've said you have been acting a little weird lately." Gus replied with a knowing look.

Shawn knew what Gus was referring to. He had not gotten a chance to talk to Gus about his connection to Carlton. When Gus had gone to visit Shawn about three days into his trip he had wanted him to have a good time and not to have to worry about vampire things so Shawn put off telling him till after the 'vacation' was over.

Gus' visit had actually gone better than expected. He really hit it off with Morgan's best friend Chuck. Comics were not Shawn's forte so it was nice for him to be able to watch his friend have fellow geeks to talk to.

Giving Gus a weak smile he sat down at his desk. "Gus, I have had to deal with some heavy stuff lately, besides the whole boot camp thing."

Gus' expression changed from concern to his "Oh really" Face as he sat down at his own desk.

"Mick and Josef are looking into it but uh… there is something different about me." Shawn admitted.

"Shawn, I think you need to narrow down that statement because I could go so many places with that right now." Gus looked at Shawn with raised eyebrows.

"Harsh!" Shawn gave Gus and incredulous look before adding, "But fair. Anyway Josef said with me already having a heightened perception when I was a human, I would have more advanced ones as a vampire too."

Gus straightened in his chair, "So you are saying you are like a super vamp?"

Rubbing his lip nervously Shawn sighed. "They kind of tested us. I'm not particularly stronger than the other guys but, I don't know." Shawn put his elbows on the desk and brushed his hands through his hair.

Gus could tell Shawn was uncomfortable about something. He knew him well enough to know when Shawn was at a loss for words there was awkwardness involved and lately the biggest awkward spot in Shawn's world was…

"This is about Lassiter isn't it?" Gus guessed.

Giving his friend a tired smile, Shawn nodded. "Spot on as always buddy."

Shawn spent the next few minutes regaling Gus about being able to sense Lassiter's emotions and pain as well as Josef's statements about having extra senses. "Josef wants me to contact him or Mick if anything out of the ordinary happens too. They seem just as stumped as I am."

Breaking the tension, Gus exclaimed "Wow, if your head wasn't big enough already! I don't think it could even fit through the door anymore."

Shawn grabbed some fuzzy dice from his desk and threw them at Gus who dodged them expertly. Glancing at the clock Shawn groaned. "I promised Jules I would visit my dad for lunch. He probably heard about the explosion by now and you know him and over reacting." Shawn grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the license plate of the blown up car. "Could you check and see if you can get anything from the license plate? We might be able to get a head start if we find something."

"I will do some research and clean up a bit while you are gone but you better bring me back some left overs from your dad's house." Gus pointed his finger at Shawn.

"Would I ever forget… again?" Shawn gave Gus a faux innocent look before leaving.

"Suck it Shawn!" Gus hollered after him.

* * *

Ten minutes, and a very breezy ride later, Shawn walked into his dad's house. He didn't knock because he knew his dad was expecting him after Shawn had called him from the road.

"Hey dad! I'm here!" Shawn shouted as he entered. He immediately noticed some plastic lining the floor. "You painting or something?"

"Give me a minute, I will be right there!" His dad's voice drifted to him from the kitchen.

Shawn followed where the voice came from and kept talking as he rounded the corner. "Can we make this quick? Gus is expecting food and Jules is…" Shawn's words were cut off as a hand came around the corner and jabbed a thin wooden state at his chest. Shawn was too surprised to react and the stake hit its mark causing him to seize up in a paralyzed state. He fell painfully backwards on the strategically placed plastic on the floor.

Shawn's eyes were looking up and he could see his dad's face enter his view. "Sorry Shawn but Gus' food will be a little late, because your real training starts now."

* * *

**END NOTES: :D Poor Shawn. If you thought Henry was hard on him just because he had a photographic memory, imagine how much worse it will get with his new skill set. **


	3. Too Much at Stake

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: If you haven't already noticed I love to have have some fun with the chapter titles. They usually give hints to what you can expect or they are just double meanings. It is my way of messing with my readers a bit. :D**

* * *

**Chapter 3- Too Much at Stake**

Shawn lay prone and gasping on the floor. He gave a few hiccupping coughs and blood started to trickle out of his mouth. Henry tried to ignore it and focus on what had to be done.

"Now Shawn," Henry paced back and forth on the plastic sheeting that protected his carpet from the mess of Shawn's pooling blood. "I heard from Mick that he was a bit easier on you because of what you went through recently. He doesn't know you like I do Shawn. You have always been at your best under harder circumstances." Leaning over Shawn, Henry gave him an ultimatum. "So, if you want to meet up with Juliet at the station today, you are going to have to reach up and pull out the stake yourself."

Shawn could not speak, he was sure one of his lungs had been punctured, but the look he gave his father blatantly asked. "Are you crazy?"

"I called Mick and talked to him. He says it is possible if the stakes are smaller." Henry didn't tell him Mick's exact words were, "It's almost impossible even with smaller stakes." But that was just unimportant details.

Shawn started to make an effort to move his hand but it caused him to tense up and start coughing blood again.

"I'll be watching TV Shawn. Let me know when you are done." Henry walked quickly from the room. Once out of sight of Shawn, Henry leaned against the living room door frame. He hated to do this to Shawn but Juliet had eventually talked him into it.

_"If Aaron could break my wrist while staked, maybe Shawn could learn to yank the stake back out." Juliet had reasoned._

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Henry thought it was a pretty large Achilles Heel for vampires to be so strong, fast and smart but one small piece of wood in their chests and they are helpless as babies… more or less. Witnessing Shawn's reaction in the hallway was almost enough to break Henry's resolve but if anyone could do it, Henry knew Shawn could.

* * *

Carlton Lassiter sat at his desk grumbling. "A car explosion, it had to be in _that_ parking lot." He put his head in his hands tiredly. After spending a week being awake at night it was going to be a chore turning his schedule around again. Not to mention his first day back was a case where he would have to work with Shawn again. He had just finished spending a week with him. It wasn't exactly as bad as Carlton thought it would be but there was only so much of that man he could take. "The fates must hate me."

Buzz McNabb approached Carlton's desk with a cup of coffee just the way the detective liked it. "Aren't you supposed to be more relaxed after a vacation Detective? You look like you have been hit by a train." Buzz smiled good naturedly at Carlton who only grunted in response.

Glancing at the coffee and sighing, Carlton knew he had to keep up appearances so he grabbed it and took a sip. It didn't taste half bad but it wasn't the ambrosia that he remembered it being. "Did you find anything out from the vehicle license number I gave you?" Carlton was curious to know who the woman was if Shawn was so sure she had given him a fake name.

Buzz was about to answer when Juliet walked up and put a thin file in front of Carlton with her good arm, the other was still in a sling because of her broken wrist. "Her real name is Cynthia Davis. She came to the US from Europe about four years ago. She ended up staying in California around the LA area, had a pretty nice house too before it got torched."

Carlton looked through the pictures of the burnt out house with Buzz looking over his shoulder. The house was a mini-mansion. "This woman had to have been loaded." Carlton thought and smirked at the fact that Shawn probably had his dreams of a large pay day blow up right in his face. Literally.

Seeing Carlton's smile Juliet asked, "What is so funny?"

"Nothing, at all." Carlton lied and noticed something. "Isn't this house the most recent in that arson case?"

There had been a large outbreak of fires in the state. It was starting to become a huge news story but no one had been able to figure out why or if the houses and businesses had been targeted.

Buzz, who had been following along from the background interrupted. "You know… if this murder ends up being related to the arson case we could have a reason to help investigate it. Could be some good press for the department."

Carlton looked at Buzz like he had grown a second head but Juliet smiled. "Nice work Buzz. If you want to help you can go see what the forensics people found out about the explosive. Carlton and I will talk to the Chief."

Looking like he just won the lottery. Buzz nodded and sprinted off eagerly. Juliet and Carlton watched his lumbering form disappear down the station steps.

Juliet turned to Carlton. She had not had a real chance to talk to him since he got back. "How are you doing? Did everything go ok at the uh... thing?"

"O'Hara, everything went fine. We got the crap kicked out of us, we talked, everything is good. Now you need to tell me how your wrist is doing." Carlton eyed her sling, remembering the bastard that did that to his partner and made him a vampire. Shawn had told him earlier that he had been executed. Good riddance.

"Well the bone is cracked and will take a while to heal. They reset it before I left for LA for girl's night so it feels a bit better." Juliet was touched at Carlton's concern.

"Good, because for this case I am going to need a partner, not an invalid." Carlton always knew how to ruin a moment.

Her eyes going hard Juliet stated, "I will be fine _Detective_. Now let's see what we can learn about this Cynthia Davis character and why she would be a target for arson." Leaning closer she whispered to Carlton, "Shawn mentioned in his story that she was a vampire, do you think that had anything to do with it?"

"I don't know. Spencer didn't mention anything but that doesn't mean much. He keeps a lot of things to himself." Carlton said quietly back. "I might have to bring him in again for more information."

Juliet shifted a bit. She knew that Shawn was not going to make it in for a while. She regretted having to ask Henry to help Shawn train a bit but the only other person besides herself that could help with that was Gus and he did not have what someone would call a "strong stomach."

"Shawn is supposed to be in this afternoon. We can talk with him then." Juliet said innocently.

"O'Hara what are you not telling me?" Carlton had heard his partner's heart speed up at the mention of Shawn. Usually he would put that reaction off to her just thinking about her boyfriend but when her face didn't register the doughy eyed girlfriend look she usually had, he knew something was up.

"Nothing. He is just having lunch with Henry on his day off before coming here." Juliet said innocently, trying to walk away from the conversation.

"You and I both know that Spencer would not go to Henry's house unless he needed something." Realization hitting him Carlton banged his hand on his desk. "He is going to try and work this case isn't he? Hell no. I am not going to let him get this one! If it is going to be a state wide press baby for the station I…" Carlton looked at Juliet's glare and rephrased, "WE are going to be the ones to crack it."

Smiling at her partner's reaction, Juliet realized that things actually felt kinda normal considering the circumstances. "Ok, let's let the Chief know and see what we can come up with." Juliet raised her good hand for a high five only to realize her mistake a second later when the pumped up Carlton returned it with a little more force than he meant to.

"Sorry…." Carlton trailed off as Juliet shook the pain out of her stinging hand.

* * *

Thirty minutes later Henry was still listening to Shawn's coughing and grunting from the other room. It had gotten worse in the last five minutes and Henry could not take it anymore. "Maybe I should let the kid up." Henry mumbled. Rising he headed for the hallway where he left Shawn. Rounding the corner Henry saw the bloody plastic, but not his son.

Panicking he looked at the blood smears on the plastic to see which way they headed. He was about to head into the kitchen when a white eyed Shawn stepped from around the corner holding a bloody stake.

"Oh my God he actually did it." Henry thought disbelievingly.

At this point, looking at his son standing there holding the stake, Henry expected some sort of snarky or witty comeback. Anything but the uncharacteristically cold stare he was currently getting.

"Shawn…" Henry's statement was cut off by a low growl he didn't know his son could make.

Henry started to back up, keeping his gaze steady and on his son. He needed to get to the kitchen where he had some blood packs stored up. He had prepared for Shawn needing blood after this but he thought he had time to get them.

Shawn's white eyes tracked his father's every gesture like a predator watching for his prey to make a wrong move. Henry was trying desperately to remember what Mick had said to do if anything like this happened. "Keep talking to him…"

"Shawn, you need to calm down." Henry said in a calm voice, nothing betraying the real fear he felt towards his son.

"After what you pulled, you don't get to tell me what I need." Shawn's fangs extended and he stepped toward his father.

Henry backed up quickly, almost tripping over the sofa. With the sudden movement Shawn charged. Henry spun around to run the other way and found his way was already blocked once again by Shawn. "He can move that fast?" Henry thought. "Oh no." He had never seen Shawn this way before, defiant… yes, angry… yes, but this was neither of those. This look was murderous.

Shawn let out an angry screech before pouncing. Henry winced and curled into a defensive position as both fell onto the couch with Henry pinned by Shawn.

"SHAWN NO! You don't want to do this son!" Henry pleaded.

Shawn did not move though. He still had Henry pinned but only curled his lip in a sneer as he stared at him. Henry tried to move but Shawn's grip tightened for a moment to stop him.

Shawn moved his head so his face was almost directly in Henry's. "You know dad. I've put up with a lot when it comes to your _trainings_." He leaned back but still kept a hold of Henry. "I admit that yes, they have saved my life more than once… but I was a kid dad. Now you try to pull this crap on me when I am a grown man?"

The fear on Henry's face instantly changed to guilt as Shawn continued, shaking his head. "You have no idea what you are playing with here. Especially since I haven't got much of a handle on this yet. Even more especially when you don't bother to find out how much blood I've had today before you try to coup de grâce me with a stake!" Shawn raised his voice and Henry winced at the volume.

Shawn's usual stoic expression creeped back into his features. "Now, you will not treat me like I am some kid you can push around anymore. IF you want to help me, just say so. I might even be inclined to listen…sometimes." Shawn added with a smirk. "But surprising and hurting me is like playing with fire dad. I don't know what I am capable of and I don't want to have to accidentally kill you to find out."

Pushing Henry away from him, Shawn walked towards the kitchen. "Now if you will excuse me I have to have some of those blood bags I smell in your fridge."

A minute later, after recovering from shock, Henry slowly got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He saw Shawn turn his back to him as he entered and sat at the table. He gave his son a minute to finish before saying, "That was all an act?"

Finishing the bag of blood, Shawn calmly walked over to the garbage and threw the empty bag away. He turned around and joined his dad at the table. "This time, yes. Next time it might not be."

His anger finally coming out Henry started to yell. "What the hell is wrong with you! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"You DID give me a heart attack!" Shawn pointed out. "Then you just left me there! I very much doubt your conversation with Mick ended with him telling you, 'Oh by the way, you might want to stake your son every once and a while. It would be good for him!"

"I wanted to see if you would be able to get out of it. That's all!" In a mocking tone Henry continued. "If vampires are so damned powerful how come they have such a huge weakness? I don't want to wake up and hear my son got staked and was killed because he couldn't fight back."

Shawn was getting angry again, his eyes paled. "You could have ASKED dad! Jeezus you are so hard headed that you couldn't just talk to me about it and plan something. No you had to take matters into your own hands." Shawn rose from the table. "Next time you complain about having a kidney stone, remind me to punch you there to loosen it up for you so I can claim I was just trying to help."

Giving up and deciding to tell the truth before his son stormed out Henry admitted, "Juliet asked me to."

Shawn stared at his father in disbelief. "Jules wouldn't do that…"

"Believe it kid. She is more worried about you than she would admit. She doesn't want anything to happen to you, and you have to admit that stuff always happens to you." Henry pointed out.

Shawn gave a mirth filled smirk. "She is probably getting back at me for lying to her about being psychic. I haven't really had the chance to talk to her about that yet."

Wanting to change the subject, Henry asked, "Juliet called before you came and told me about the explosion in your parking lot. Was it really another vampire?"

"Yeah." Shawn nodded, "This stunning, and rich lady just walks into our office and tells us that someone is trying to kill her. The only reason I knew she was a vampire was because she slipped. Her eyes started to turn white. She had put on so much perfume I could not smell anything through it. It had to have been what she wanted."

"Smelling! That could be something we could work on…" Henry started before seeing the angry look Shawn gave him. "Right… too soon."

"Anyway, when I confronted her she freaked out, ran out of the office and got herself blown up."

"You said she was upset when you called her out for being a vampire?" Shawn nodded. "Did she know you were a vampire?"

Closing his eyes and remembering the conversation Shawn could not see that she had given any indication that she knew. "She never said anything about it, but wearing all that perfume to block out my senses was enough proof right?"

"Shawn, think about it this way. If she didn't know you were a vampire and was still wearing enough perfume to be able to block out her scent, what would that mean?" Henry tried to get his son to think. He already had all the information, what he usually needed was a bit of focus to get his mind in gear.

Scrunching his brow Shawn stated, "It would mean that I wasn't the vampire she was hiding from. There had to have been someone else she didn't want knowing what she was!" Jumping up and down a couple times before rushing to the door and shouting, "I have to talk to Jules and Mick. This could be big!"

Henry watched as Shawn hurried out the door to his car. He rose and went to go pick up the bloody plastic that was spread out on the floor. Walking into the living room Henry realized that a lot of the blood had gotten tracked all over the carpet from Shawn chasing him down. "Dammit Shawn!" Henry shouted angrily as he went back into the kitchen to get the bleach.


	4. Blast From the Past

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: *Grins* Thanks so much for the reviews guys! The feedback is greatly appreciated.**

* * *

**Chapter 4- Blast From the Past**

Gus was just finishing cleaning up the last of the glass from the picture window and putting up some plastic he had to pick up at the hardware store down the street when Shawn rushed in the office.

"GUS! Interesting news!" Shawn yelled as he entered.

When Shawn came through the door leading to the office, Gus instantly went into panic mode. There was a hole in Shawn's shirt over his heart and trickles of blood around his mouth that had not been completely wiped away. Gus rushed to the fridge and grabbed a blood bag, knowing his friend would need it. Shawn had made it a point to have at least three in the fridge at all times. Gus knew he didn't want a repeat of his incident with Buzz but Gus made Shawn keep the bags well away from his food.

"Oh my God Shawn! What happened?" Gus exclaimed shoving the blood at Shawn. It took a second before Gus realized what he had just done. He was face to face with blood, in his hand, on his friend… and he was fine.

Shawn saw Gus' eyes widen in surprise and stare at the blood in his hand. Shawn slowly smiled when he realized Gus had just faced his phobia because he was worried about him. "Buddy! Look at you all brave and ignoring your fear of blood for me." Still smiling he took the blood from Gus' hand and set it down before taking his ruined shirt off.

Large streaks of crimson were plastered to Shawn's torso in a spread pattern from the center of his chest. Unfortunately, that was too much for Gus, concern for his friend or not. He covered his mouth and ran for the bathroom.

"Gus! C'mon! It's not even fresh!" Shawn called after his retreating friend. Sighing and looking down, he walked to the sink and started washing off.

A few minutes later Gus appeared out of the bathroom wiping his mouth. Thankfully by then, Shawn was finished cleaning up and his shirt was now in the garbage and double bagged.

"You alright there?" Shawn asked concerned. He honestly felt bad.

Gus nodded and asked, "Are you?" before gesturing to Shawn's bare chest.

Shawn touched the skin over his heart. "Yeah uh… my dad took it upon himself to decide it was a good idea to poke at my inner vampire with a stick."

Gus' eyes widened in realization. "He staked you? He has issues."

"Couldn't agree more buddy." Shawn headed to one of the lockers and pulled out a spare shirt. Before he was able to put it on Gus stopped him.

Gus gave Shawn a suspicious look. "Shawn, have you been working out?"

"No, not really…" Shawn, confused, watched as his friend approached him.

"Cuz you are looking a bit more in shape if you know what I mean." Gus squinted and poked Shawn's stomach and pectorals.

Quickly slapping Gus' hand away Shawn complained, "Dude, I'm pretty sure what you are doing is called 'Bad Touch."

Gus tisked at Shawn who started to hastily put his shirt on. "I was just making an observation. You do that all the time."

"I follow the look and don't touch policy." Shawn explained haughtily.

Giving his friend and incredulous look Gus asked, "Since when?"

"I dunno!" Shawn exclaimed in a whiny voice. "Maybe since the one getting touched is me."

"C'mon son!" Gus sneered before dropping the subject.

The office was silent for a couple minutes as Shawn grabbed a couple things from his desk. Turning to Gus he asked, "I have to get over to the station. You want to come?"

"As long as we take my car. You have been driving like a maniac since you got yours, or since you became practically invincible." Shawn couldn't argue with that. "Besides I have to take it in to get the glass replaced before my boss sees it when I go to work tomorrow."

"Speaking of…" Shawn pointed at the picture window.

"It's going to be fixed today. All this replacement is going to use up everything we made on our last case, which was over two weeks ago I might add." Gus frowned.

Getting defensive, Shawn glared at Gus. "Not my fault. Anyway if we get in on this case, since it literally happened in our back yard, we will be able to get some cash."

"When you came in you said there was some big news? Did you find something out?"

"Yeah!" Shawn was getting excited again. "You know the horrible amount of perfume that woman was wearing? I thought it was probably to throw off my senses so I wouldn't know she was a vampire." Shawn held out both hands in an accentuating gesture. "BUT, it also blocked her senses as well. You see? She had no clue that I was a vampire too!"

Gus looked at Shawn confused, "If she didn't know you were a vampire than why was she wearing all that perfume in the first place?"

"That's the thing! She was trying to hide from a vampire, just not me. Ergo, the one who was after her was a vampire." Shawn grinned.

"Don't you think that is a bit convenient? You have been a vampire for less than two weeks and one just happens to walk into our office?" Gus raised an eyebrow.

Shawn knew Gus was right. It was too big of a coincidence. Someone had to have told her something about their agency. "Well if it does have something to do with another vampire we have to keep that information out of the SBPD's hands. Mick told me there were very few vampires in this area and if anything happened no one would really mind if I helped take care of it."

Gus chuckled, "You taking care of it, that's good."

"Fine! You don't have to come." Shawn said grabbing his car keys. "I will solve this heinous vampire on vampire crime myself, and get all the glory." Smirking, he started to walk out but was mentally counting down the seconds before Gus cracked.

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One…"

"Fine Shawn! I'll go!" Gus jogged to catch up to Shawn. "But remember if we get in in trouble, you are the one who gets shot, not me."

"That's fair." Shawn agreed and headed out the door.

* * *

"Chief I don't care whether it landed right in Spencer's lap or not! The station needs this one!" Carlton had been trying to reason with Chief Karen Vick for a while to let him take the bombing case. He raised his eyebrows and gestured for his partner Juliet to agree with him. "You know she technically didn't even hire him before she died."

Exasperated, Karen put her head on her desk. "Detective Lassiter, Mr. Spencer already has the pertinent information on this case. Even if I don't give it to him do you really think that he will stop looking?" Raising her head to look at her detectives she continued. "I would rather pool our knowledge and resources to catch this person quickly than have everyone doing their own investigation."

"CHIEF!" All heads turned towards Buzz McNabb as he came in carrying a file. Buzz looked uncharacteristically grim. "The forensics are back on the explosive. It contained the same accelerant compound that was found at the arson fires from all over the state!"

Standing and placing both hands on her desk Karen stated, "It's settled then. I will contact the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. They should have the information on the rest of the arson fires and we can let them know what we have. O'Hara, I need you to call the Psych detective agency and have them get here ASAP…"

"Too late Chief!" Shawn announced his presence to the room as he entered the office with Gus. "I felt the psychic vibrations that I was needed and here I am." Shawn spread his arms wide in a 'ta da' motion.

Shawn looked at Juliet and saw a disapproving look so he cut the theatrics. He still didn't know what her position was towards his past deception so he decided to keep it low key for now. "Uh, what did you need us for Chief?"

"Mr. Spencer, Mr. Guster. Glad you could join us." Karen motioned for them to sit. Shawn grabbed the chair next to Juliet and gave her good hand a comforting squeeze. Gus had to take the seat on the other side of Carlton.

"Gentlemen, it was just confirmed to me that the car bomb that went off in your parking lot is linked to the arson fires that have popped up around the state in the last few months." Looking at Shawn, Karen continued. "Have you picked up on anything Mr. Spencer?"

Putting both hands to his head and closing his eyes, Shawn stated. "I get a strong feeling that this 'Sandra' knew who was after her. Knew who wanted her dead."

Juliet interrupted, "Sandra Williams' name is actually Cynthia Davis. She moved to the area within the last four years. Her house was the last to have been burned down by the arsonist."

Remembering the news broadcast on the TV this morning Shawn described the house to the group. "I see a white mansion. Both the main house and the adjoining greenhouse were completely destroyed."

"Very good Mr. Spencer." Karen gave Shawn an approving look but Carlton just rolled his eyes and Juliet pursed her lips.

"Yeah, I am really going to have to talk to her." Shawn reminded himself before realizing Karen was not finished.

"Since you seem to be getting strong readings from the victim, I want you to see if you can find out who would have wanted her dead and maybe we can get a suspect. Now detectives…" Karen said turning to Juliet and Carlton. "I need you to see if you can talk to the BCA when they get here and find out the details on the previous fires. We need to know if there were any other survivors because according to what I have been hearing on the news there were none until Cynthia. Whoever is setting these fires is out to kill any witnesses so keep in touch and PLEASE be careful."

"Sure thing Chief." Shawn was the first one to hop up out of the chair. "I will go see what Woody found in the autopsy. Coming Jules?"

"Sure, Carlton and I need to talk to him too. We need to see what kind of damage this accelerant caused." Carlton nodded in agreement and headed out to the coroner's office.

Letting Juliet and Gus go first, Shawn ended up being the last one in the room with Karen. He was just about to leave when he heard a faint sound. Stopping suddenly Shawn glanced at Karen who had just sat down to finish writing some reports.

Noticing Shawn was not leaving she asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with Mr. Spencer?"

"SHHHH!" Shawn shushed Karen and closed his eyes to listen.

A little offended at Shawn's actions but more curious than anything Karen watched as Shawn came closer to her with his eyes closed and is head cocked as if listening to something. Shawn put his hands out and walked around her desk coming to a stop right in front of her.

Opening his eyes after following the sound Shawn realized he was standing right in front of Karen. He could have sworn this is where the sound was coming from. It was an extremely faint beating hum that was almost hard for him to hear. Shawn offered his hand and motioned for Karen to stand up.

Karen tentatively took Shawn's hand with raised eyebrows and stood as Shawn dropped to his knees and put his head to her stomach. Her eyes widening at the psychic's actions she awkwardly stated. "Mr. Spencer, this is not appropriate…"

Shawn smiled, finally getting what he was hearing. Standing up abruptly he saw Karen's face was beat red and had a very embarrassed look on it. "Sorry Chief." Shawn apologized. "I just wanted to congratulate you. I think it might be a boy this time." Shawn was just guessing at the gender but he knew for sure that Karen was pregnant due to hearing the baby's heartbeat.

Karen's mouth opened in shock. She had just found out less than a week ago that she might be pregnant and it took Shawn all but two minutes to figure it out. A loud cheer from outside the office caused both of them to look out the windows. Apparently Juliet, Gus, and Carlton had turned around once they realized Shawn was not behind them and peeked in the windows and saw the whole thing. The rest of the station had noticed and stopped to watch with them.

As the cheers died down and Karen stopped blushing, she looked into Shawn's grinning face and whispered. "Thank you for the nice gesture Shawn but next time try to refrain from doing anything so embarrassing again."

"I make no promises Karen." Shawn whispered back. "My visions are beyond my control sometimes and the spirits just don't seem to understand personal boundaries."

Trying not to laugh, Karen shooed Shawn out of her office and shut the blinds on the window her detectives and Gus were gazing through. Going back to her desk Karen realized that since the whole station knew she was going to have to let her husband know too before he found out from someone else. She shook her head again at Shawn's antics and dialed her husband's cell. "Hey hon it's Karen, I have something I need to tell you…"

* * *

When Shawn walked out of the Chief's office Carlton grabbed him by the arm and whispered curiously, "How did you know? I didn't see or hear anything."

Knowing Juliet was close enough to hear Shawn brushed off the question and started walking down towards the morgue, "Lassie, as much as I would love to explain the awesomeness that is ME, I think we might want to focus on the victim."

Carlton narrowed his eyes at Shawn. It wasn't like him to cut to the chase so quickly and the exchange between him and his partner did not go unnoticed. Filing the information away for later Carlton started explaining to Shawn what they had so far on the victim. "As O'Hara said the victim Cynthia Davis moved from LA to the outskirts of town a few years ago. All we got on her is that she ran some kind of horticulture business out of her home. Rare plants and the like." Turning to Juliet Carlton almost whined, "How does someone get so rich by raising and selling plants?"

Gus was the one who answered, "There are many types of plants. It depends on if they were for decorative purposes or medicinal. A lot of experimental drugs are derived from plants and people who raise them can make a lot of money."

Grumbling at being showed up by Shawn's sidekick Carlton barked, "Who asked you Guster?" as they entered Woody's office.

Woodrow Strode, coroner, stood examining a pile of ash in the middle of his examination table. He was taking bits of the pile and putting them into separate beakers for chemical analysis and barely noticed the foursome arrive.

"Woody! If it isn't my favorite minion." Shawn started to give Woody a fist bump but noticing his hands were full he ended up giving him a hesitant air bump instead. "Your face is looking a bit better"

"Hey guys… and lady." Woody acknowledged Juliet with a small bow. "I guess our resident dust pile here is what brought you to see me today? As per your instructions detectives I have officially cut out any and all mention of complete combustion due to vampirism." Carlton and Juliet had left him a message earlier that it might be a vampire so Woody needed to get creative when it came to the autopsy results.

"Thanks for that Woody. Did you find out anything having to do with the explosion?" Juliet asked. "The lab guys said that some kind of accelerant was used in the bombing and it matched the other arson fires."

"Yes actually, there are some titanium particles in the ashes." Woody poked at the pile on the table.

"Why would someone use titanium to blow someone up?" Carlton asked confused.

Woody shook his head. "They wouldn't. The titanium is most likely leftovers from Titanium Hydride. It is a compound that in powder form can cause massive explosion when the hydrogen atoms burn off." Woody made a boom gesture with his hands. "It leaves the titanium as a residue."

"So whoever did this wanted an intense flame so whoever was exposed to it had no time to escape." Carlton stated.

Shawn had been listening to the others and started forming an idea. "Guys! If Cynthia knew another vampire was after her and if these arson cases are connected… what does that say about the other victims? Could they have been vampires too?"

Carton and Shawn looked at each other for a moment before simultaneously grabbing at their phones and dialing Mick's number. Shawn already had his phone up to his ear before Carlton was even done punching in the area code. "It's called speed dial Lassie." Shawn gloated as the defeated detective grumbled and put his phone away.

* * *

Miles away in LA, Mick St. John woke with a start. His phone was ringing. Groaning, he got up from his freezer and looked at the clock. It was barely past 1pm. "Man there better be a good reason for this." Mick grumbled as he got up and reached for the phone ringing and vibrating on the counter. The caller ID said it was Shawn Spencer and Mick's frustration disappeared. He did tell him to call anytime if he needed anything so it was his own fault for being woken up.

"St. John." He answered tiredly.

Shawn's excited voice came over the line. "Hey there man, sorry to call so early but I have a question for you. We have a bit of a situation and I need you to let me know if you have heard of a vampire named Cynthia Davis."

Mick nearly dropped the phone. He knew her alright. "She is my ex-wife's best friend. Was even at our wedding. I haven't spoken to her in years." Not since the whole debacle with his wife and the temporary cure four years ago.

Over the receiver Mick heard Shawn say, "He knew her." Followed a small scuffle accompanied with slapping sounds. Carlton's voice came over the phone next.

"Cynthia Davis was killed in a car explosion today in the parking lot of Psych Detective Agency. I need whatever you can tell me about her, because Spencer here is convinced that she was targeted by another vampire."

Setting the phone down for a minute Mick wiped his forehead and sighed. He had not been exactly fond of Cynthia but he had known her for almost sixty years. A faint, "St. John?" from the phone snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, sorry. Was just some heavy news." Mick admitted.

"Sorry for your loss but could you give us the name of anyone who would possibly want Cynthia dead?" Carlton questioned.

"Yeah. I know of one person who would do it." Mick didn't want to think about it, the last time he tangled with this guy Coralline was abducted and Mick himself was almost killed. "His name is Lance, he is my ex-wife's psychopathic brother."


	5. A Cure for the Common Vampire

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a pretty short chapter because this and the next had to be split up a bit for formatting :P I was happy to get to use Woody again because he is my favorite character next to Shawn. **

* * *

**Chapter 5- A Cure for the Common Vampire**

After a moment of stunned silence and questioning glances from the rest of the group, Carlton handed Shawn back his phone. "Put that on speaker would you?"

Shawn fiddled with the phone for a second before exclaiming, "So that's how you silence the ringer…" his triumphant smile faltered as he was met with cold stares. Ducking his head and frowning, he finally pushed the speaker button.

Mick's voice came from the phone. "Can everyone hear me?"

"Loud and clear Mick. What do you have for us?" Juliet asked.

"The only one with a motive to kill Cynthia Davis is a very powerful vampire named Lance. He is my ex-wife Coraline's brother. He is very dangerous, I cannot stress enough how dangerous." A serious Mick explained. "I can only tell you the few things I know from meeting him. He is incredibly strong, fast and… he heals from fire."

Shawn and Carlton shared a meaningful look. Fire was a big big problem for vampires.

Mick continued, "He is from a very powerful line of vampires. He and Coraline were part of French nobility during the French Revolution. The true history of the French Revolution is that it was a mass purge of vampires. The guillotine was created as a weapon of mass genocide, fire was used as an indicator of humanity. Fear of discovery was everywhere, so the clan created a substance that masked the characteristics of vampirism. A temporary cure."

"Is there a lot of this around?" Carlton asked. The hopeful look in his eyes sent a huge pang of guilt through Shawn.

"It is extremely rare. Coraline ended up stealing it from Lance some years ago and tried to develop a permanent cure from it. Four years ago she ended up giving me the temporary cure before being abducted by Lance. Being human meant that I was unable to stop him. I haven't seen her since." The sorrow in Mick's voice was very evident.

Being the scientific mind of the group, Woody was curious. "What is in this temporary cure?"

"Some kind of rare plant from France. It is practically extinct now. Coraline was trying to genetically alter the other plants to have the same properties of the original using the cure compound. That is all I really know."

Shawn's face went slack as he remembered Carlton's words from earlier, _"All we got on her is that she ran some kind of horticulture business out of her home. Rare plants and the like."_

"I've got something!" he exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention. "Cynthia was continuing the research! That would explain why Lance suddenly went after her. She was developing the plants!"

Carlton shook his head. "That doesn't explain why Lance would be starting the other fires, if he is connected to them at all. We don't have a lot of evidence there. Just that the same accelerant was used."

"Ok, for now I think we should do what the chief asks." Juliet reasoned. "Shawn, you and Gus head to Cynthia's house and see what you can find." Gus nodded and Shawn saluted Juliet. "Carlton and I will meet the BCA guys when they come in tomorrow. Until then we will see what research we can do on the other fires. If there is a connection, we will find it. Could you give us a description of Lance so we can know him when we see him Mick?"

"He is tall, brown hair rather plain looking but the thing that really sticks out about him is that his right eye is completely black."

"I am guessing you mean his eye is the color black and not that he has an eternal shiner…" Shawn asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, it is really disturbing. Anyway, did you need anything else?" Shawn heard a yawn over the line.

"Nah man. Thanks a lot. I will keep you posted if you want." Shawn picked up the phone.

"That would be great. Thanks, and be careful." Mick hung up and Shawn put the phone back in his jeans before looking up and noticing something was off with Carlton.

Pulling Juliet aside, Shawn looked at Carlton again who was sniffing at Gus in a mildly creepy way. Gus seemed oblivious but Shawn could tell the other vampire was definitely getting hungry. "Jules, I really want to talk to you about something but I need a second. Could you wait for me outside?" Juliet nodded in agreement. "Oh, and take Gus with you too…" Shawn motioned with his head and Juliet saw what Shawn was looking at.

Juliet immediately got the point. "Hey Gus, could you come here for a second?" Juliet motioned to the double doors. Gus gave Shawn a questioning look and Shawn gave a go ahead gesture.

After watching the pair leave, Carlton shook his head as if to tell himself "No."

"Hey Lassie-pants." Shawn got Carlton's attention by getting right in Carlton's personal space. His tone was light but his face was not happy. "How about I buy you some lunch from Woody?"

Backing up, Carlton sneered. "I don't need you to buy me blood Spencer."

In a fierce whisper Shawn replied, "Apparently someone has to! You were eyeing bus like a fillet. You cannot forget to feed Lassie… ever."

Pursing his lips and looking into Shawn's angry hazel eyes made the detective feel extremely guilty. He sighed and Shawn saw that as implied consent. "Woody!" Shawn called to the coroner who had since walked into the back room to grab something. "Could you get the detective here some B positive and put it on my tab?" Shawn's demeanor had instantly changed back to normal.

Carlton watched Shawn with hidden fascination. His ability to hide his true emotions was something that always irked and impressed him at the same time. Irked because he was so unreadable you never knew what he really thought or was up to. He envied the ability because Shawn seemed to be taking the vampiric transition so much easier than he himself was. Josef had tried to put it into words Carlton could understand. _"You are now a loaded gun. Don't let yourself go off."_

Woody came back into the main autopsy room and handed Shawn a blood bag with a flourish. "One B positive for the gentleman."

Shawn nodded and thanked Woody. "Here Lassie, I know we found you like A positive better…" Shawn handed the bag to Carlton and paused for dramatic effect. "But sometimes you just have to _be positive_." Slapping Carlton on the back, Shawn jogged out to join his friends in the hall. He heard Woody's good natured laugh and Carlton's sarcastic one. "Ha ha... very funny Spencer."

* * *

Shawn saw Juliet was alone in the hallway when he came out. "Jules… where is Gus?"

"The window guys called and he went to go meet them for the installation." Juliet explained and pointed towards the stairs where Gus had just been.

Shawn and Juliet stood awkwardly for a second, both obviously had things to say to each other but neither knew where to start. Deciding moving was better than just standing around, Shawn took Juliet's arm gently and started to walk slowly down the hallway.

Shawn cleared his throat, "So, I heard girls' night went good…"

"Yeah, Alex and Beth are great…" Juliet replied with the over enthusiasm of someone trying to find something to say to break the ice.

Shawn looked around. He knew they really wouldn't be able to talk at the station anyway. Too many people were around. "Jules, I really do want to talk to you about what I said last week but…"

"I know, we can't do it here." Juliet admitted. They really needed some time alone to speak about things.

Shawn stopped walking as they hit the top of the stairs and turned Juliet to face him. "How about I take you out tomorrow night? Just us! We can have dinner… dancing…" Shawn moved closer to Juliet and gave a big smile.

Playfully pushing Shawn away and giving him a puzzled look Juliet stated the obvious. "But Shawn, you don't eat."

"Oh c'mon Jules!" Shawn gave an exasperated whine, "Since when does everything have to be about me?" Juliet raised an eyebrow and Shawn corrected himself, "Lately…"

Giving into her boyfriend's puppy dog stare Juliet agreed. "Ok Shawn, 6pm tomorrow. Pick me up because I want to go for a ride in that new car of yours."

"It's a date!" Shawn exclaimed loud enough to turn some heads in their direction, and causing Juliet to turn beat red.

"SHAWN!" A shout from across the station caused Shawn's teeth to clench at the sound of the gruff voice. He could have gone literally an eternity without hearing him again… let alone after just a few hours.

Juliet gave Shawn a questioning look as she saw his reaction to Henry's voice. This is what she had wanted to talk to him about. To see how everything went with the discussion on extra training.

Henry jogged up to the pair and nodded in greeting at Juliet. Grabbing Shawn's arm, Henry said, "C'mere kid. I need to talk to you." He started to drag Shawn towards an office.

Shawn planted his feet firmly while giving his father a hard look. Shawn had not told anyone how pissed off he really was about the stake incident. He had been his usual self and played it off as teaching his dad a lesson when he vamped out at him and had brushed it off as no big deal to Gus. The truth was he was furious and having his dad rush in and order him around was trying his already frayed nerves.

Henry immediately let go of Shawn's arm when he saw his son's eyes were pale and glaring. "Um, I would like to speak to you Shawn… if I could." Henry used his politest voice.

Juliet could not believe her ears. "Henry, what happened today?" She demanded with a scowl. "You were supposed to talk to him about what I had asked." Looking at Shawn for confirmation Juliet continued, "Did you say no Shawn?"

Henry was about to answer when Shawn piped up. "It's ok Jules. He told me about it and I agreed. I think it is a great idea." Shawn smiled but Henry could see it didn't reach his eyes. "I need to talk to him for a minute. Will catch you later ok?" Shawn leaned over and kissed Juliet on the cheek.

"Ok, call me later?" Shawn nodded and Juliet walked off to join Carlton who was just now coming up the steps.


	6. Windows to the Soul

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: I put in a bit of fluff between Henry and Shawn in this one... at least as fluffy as it gets with those two. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 6- Windows to the Soul**

Shawn followed Henry to the empty room and plopped himself down in one of the faux leather chairs. Propping his feet up on one of the others he looked up at his dad expectantly. "Well?"

Glaring at Shawn, Henry grumbled, "Was that little display in the hallway really necessary?"

Shawn returned his father's glare. "Apparently so, for someone who expects me to remember everything, your memory isn't all that great." Shawn scoffed before putting his feet down and looking at his lap. "I don't want to fight dad. I honestly don't have the energy with all the hats I have to wear right now so if that is all you came for, sorry but I am busy." He moved to get up.

Seeing the weary look in his son's eyes reminded Henry of all that his kid had been through. Henry knew that he was one of the only people that Shawn could be his true self around and it was beginning to look like the façade that Shawn put up for the world to see was starting to crack badly under the stress. Henry held out his hands to slow Shawn down before pulling up a chair beside him. "Shawn, I came to talk to you about something you said at the house. That woman who was killed, she used the perfume to cover up her scent to hide it from other vampires right?"

Leaning back in the chair again Shawn nodded. "Her plan backfired though and that is what ended up killing her. She was unable to smell anything through the perfume and probably didn't realize that anything was wrong with her car. What is your point?"

"It gave me an idea. Instead of covering your scent, maybe you could change it." Henry pulled out a small glass bottle from his pocket.

Shawn was almost too scared to ask. He leaned forward and looked at the bottle's label. "Animal Scent- From Glands."

"If this woman was scared enough to be hiding from this other vampire, I figured it wouldn't be too bad of an idea for you to do the same thing, but smarter."

Shawn smiled. Animal scents were used in hunting to lure or deter animals from an area. Depending on the type, it changed the scent, not simply covering it up. He would stink, but he would still be able to smell. Shawn didn't know what to say. It was a good plan but he was still too miffed at his father to admit that.

Deciding sarcasm was the answer, Shawn raised his eyebrows nonchalantly and took the bottle. "Oh, what kid did you get me? Deer? Skunk?" Putting a sultry edge to his voice he said, "How about fox… Jules would love that one."

Henry got up and looked down at him. "I got you something more fitting." He started to walk away as Shawn gave him a confused look from the chair. Once Henry got to the door he stated, "I got you raccoon Shawn." Henry gave him a smug grin before closing the door as shock and horror replaced the confusion on his son's features.

Shawn resisted the urge to smash the bottle in a childlike tantrum. No matter what it was, his dad always got the last jab. Shawn hated raccoons as much as Carlton hated squirrels. Mussing over their shared hatred of rodentia, Shawn put the scent in his pocket and walked out of the station to head back to Psych. He got to the parking lot before realizing Gus had taken the Blueberry already to meet the glass guys and there was no way he was going to be able to walk in the sun for that far.

Groaning he rushed over and caught his dad before his truck pulled out of his parking spot. He was a grown man and a vampire but still had to ask his dad to drive him places. Choking back the embarrassment Shawn managed to say, "Hey dad, could you give me a ride?"

* * *

Shawn and Gus pulled up to the burned out mansion on the outskirts of LA around 5pm each in their own vehicle. They had planned to leave right after the new window was put in but were delayed when Shawn had told Gus what happened with his dad before going into the bathroom and putting on the scent. Gus then spent another half hour yelling at Shawn for putting that stuff on inside the office rather than outside.

Crime scene tape was wrapped around only the front of the property due to the fact that the one lane private drive was the only entrance to the house. Shawn bounced out of his car first and super sped up the concrete steps to stop in the shade of the burned out doorway. He took off his sunglasses and looked around at the ruined building.

"Shawn wait up!" Gus called from the Blueberry. "You shouldn't do that! What if someone saw you?"

Rolling his eyes Shawn deadpanned, "Gus, don't be the gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe. I didn't want to stand in the sun waiting."

"Well I still don't know why we had to bring both cars. With the economy and price of fuel one would have been just fine." Gus complained.

"Gus, I would pay for Rob Lowe's private jet fuel for a year if I never had to ask my dad for a ride ever again." Shawn turned towards the empty doorway covered by tape that read, "Danger Do Not Enter." "Do you think we should knock?" Shawn asked sarcastically with raised eyebrows.

"Stop playing Shawn. Let's just get this over with. I want to get back to the office and relax." Gus whined. It had been a really long day and all Gus wanted to do was spend some down time with his friend. He had barely seen for the last week and wanted to be able to sit down and talk which was the actual reason why he was angry about taking both cars and not just sharing one.

Giving an over dramatic sigh, Shawn relented. "Fine…" Stepping through the doorway into what used to be a pretty elaborate foyer, Shawn was able to see the second floor had completely collapsed into what had to have been a dining area.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Gus wondered out loud. The floor beneath them was black from ash and debris and squishy from the water used to put it out.

"Of course it is safe!" Shawn said confidently noticing other footprints in the rubble. "Look, other people have been through here already." Shawn cocked his head and bent down to look closer at the footprints. "Gus, this print isn't from a firemen's boot. Looks more like a dress shoe." Chuckling Shawn continued, "Who would be dumb enough to ruin a dress shoe by walking through this stuff…why aren't you laughing?" Shawn stood up and looked into Gus' angry face. Glancing at his friend's footwear he noticed Gus was wearing the dress shoes he usually wore to work at the pharmaceutical company.

Pointing at Shawn dramatically Gus exclaimed, "You are buying me another pair Shawn!"

"Oh look! A greenhouse!" Shawn stood and pointed, changing the subject and heading over to the outbuilding.

Resigned to the fact that his shoes were already ruined, Gus followed Shawn to the broken remains of the greenhouse. He noticed Shawn's eyes were closed and he was sniffing deeply. "Dude that is just creepy when you do that."

Wrinkling his brow in confusion Shawn declared, "Gus, I think other vampires have been here recently. I am definitely getting two scents." Looking down Shawn noticed the other footprints also went through this area. "The dress shoe guys were vampires."

Joining Shawn at the greenhouse entrance Gus asked, "Why do you think they were here? Do you think they worked with Cynthia?"

"It would make sense that she had some help, even from other vampires. I wonder what they were looking for…" Shawn's attention shifted and he trailed off again. Gus was used to this and was unconcerned until he saw Shawn kneeling on the floor whipping off a small metallic item in the floor.

"What is it?" Gus asked walking up to Shawn.

Holding up a finger while opening the small latch with one hand Shawn said, "Wait for iiiiiiit….." before lifting the cover to reveal a hidden safe. "Man, I am good." Shawn gave Gus a smug smirk before wiping away a few ashes and trying the safe to see if it was open. It was which disappointed Gus. He had been hoping to try out some of his new safe cracking techniques.

"Aw man!" Shawn exclaimed as he realized the safe was empty. "That would have been so cool to find a secret something."

Gus raised his eyebrows at Shawn. "And you wonder why your dad got you the raccoon scent."

"Psssh, shut up." Shawn knew it was a weak comeback but he didn't have much to argue with. Shawn raised his arm for a help up.

Gus helped Shawn to his feet and looked at the empty safe. "Looks like whoever was poking around here found it first."

Shawn shook his head. "No, that doesn't add up. The rubble was on top of the safe so it had to have been opened before the greenhouse collapsed." Remembering another detail Shawn tried to piece what happened together, "But, there were some ashes in between the cover and the safe, meaning that whoever opened the safe opened it while things were burning but before the collapse."

Gus was starting to get it. "So you are saying that someone…"

"Probably Cynthia" Shawn interrupted.

Giving Shawn an annoyed look, Gus continued. "Cynthia... a vampire, ran into a burning building to get whatever was in that safe? It had to have been pretty important if she was risking that."

Nodding in agreement, Shawn still had a thoughtful expression on his face. "Something is missing though, literally this time Gus. If there was anything suspicious on her person or in the car, it would have been in the forensics report or Woody would have mentioned something." An excited twinkle entered Shawn's eyes. "Unless, she didn't have it on her when she blew up!"

"So, she must have given it to someone before she died." Gus didn't see why that would make Shawn so excited.

"Exactly! But not just someone Gus… US! She gave it to us!"

Sometimes, Gus wished he could understand his friend's way of thinking. He got tired of feeling so lost when Shawn got excited. "I'm not following you Shawn. Her house burned down two days ago. She could have given it to anyone in that amount of time."

"If the fires are all connected, maybe she had nowhere left to go! Or maybe Lance was watching for her and she had to hide. Either way do you think she would have come to a psychic detective if she had any other options? Vampires are natural skeptics, believe me."

Finally catching up to his friend's logic Gus stated excitedly, "We have to get back to the office!" Both men did a bit of a victory dance.

Shawn stopped dancing and yelled, "Race you!" before speeding down to his car.

"Shawn! No fair! You pulled in behind me!" Gus shouted before grumbling and making his way to his own, less speedy car.

* * *

Shawn pulled into the Psych parking lot first. He made sure to text Gus so he could savor the victory. He had sped only a little bit during the hour and a half drive back so technically it wasn't cheating.

Entering the office, Shawn started searching immediately. He had not noticed anything out of place at first glance so he figured the object had to have been placed out of sight. Groaning, Shawn ended up looking on his hands and knees, checking into every nook and cranny but still coming up short. Growling in frustration he thought, "Maybe I was wrong."

Shawn closed his eyes to concentrate. He was trying to remember what she had done while she was there, where she could have placed it. Shawn's eyes snapped open and looked at the place where Cynthia was sitting the entire time. "The couch! Duh!" Shawn chastised himself for not looking there earlier but he thought it would have been a bit cliché hiding something in a couch.

Carefully lifting the cushions out of the way Shawn dug around the spot she had sat. After finding a bunch of change and Gus' lost name tag, he spotted the top of a vial sticking out of the couch. Holding his breath Shawn pulled the vial out and found it contained a hypodermic needle about the size of an insulin syringe. The needle contained a small amount of red liquid. "Oh, my God." Shawn whispered and looked again at the object in his hand. Who knows how many people had died for this. "The cure…"

Shawn heard the door to psych open. While turning around Shawn exclaimed, "Gus! Come here I…" before realizing that it wasn't Gus. Two men had entered the office. Both were well dressed in casual black suits. One was almost as tall as Buzz, with brown short cut straight hair, another heavier set man was just shorter than Shawn, also brown hair. Both were wearing sunglasses. Shawn as able to smell right away these two men were vampires. Their scents practically screamed it. He quickly hid the cure in his back pocket, hoping neither had seen it, just in case.

Both men wrinkled their noses as they came closer to him obviously catching the raccoon scent that still lingered on Shawn. "Thank you dad…" Shawn thought gratefully before greeting the two men.

"Welcome to Psych! I am Shawn Spencer, psychic detective." Shawn put his hand to his temple. "I am sensing you two are needing help with something." While playing up the psychic shtick he noticed the two men's shoes. Dress shoes and they had bits of black on them. These were the two from the house.

The taller man was the one who ended up speaking. He didn't exactly have an accent but his voice was incredibly cultured. "Yes, I have a question about the woman who met her unfortunate end in the parking lot today."

Shawn nodded sympathetically. "Yes yes, terrible tragedy. I am sorry though, I am unable to share information about my clients, confidentiality agreements ya know."

"Well you see," The man continued as if Shawn had not just told him no, "this woman had stolen something from me." The man took off his sunglasses and started to clean them with a handkerchief from his pocket. Looking down at his chore he continued, "I need you to tell me if she mentioned anything about it before she died." Shawn had to use all of his training to stop himself from screaming as the man looked up. His left eye was a soft honey brown, a complete contrast to his personality, but his right eye was like a dark pit into his soul. Completely jet black.


	7. Getting Shook Up from a Shakedown

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is one of my favorite chapters so far. :D You'll see why.**

* * *

**Chapter 7- Getting Shook Up from a Shakedown **

**Earlier that afternoon:**

Lance carefully sifted through the charred debris. His good eye searching back and forth desperately trying to find what he had spent the last two days and nights looking for. His shorter silent companion, also searching, was coming up with nothing as well.

"This is so much easier at night." Lance stated as he adjusted his sunglasses. His companion gave a single nod in agreement. "Cynthia you always were a problem..." He grumbled and turned to the other man. "She knew what we came for and had to have taken or hidden it."

Lance was having second thoughts about killing Cynthia. Not for any sentimental reasons but for the fact that it would have been easier to force an answer out of someone who wasn't currently a pile of ash. In his mind she was a traitor and a thief, just like his sister. Just like all of them.

"Sir, we need to get out of the sun. What do you want to do?" Lance's usually silent associate asked.

"We have to find where the cure could have ended up. She was in that charlatan's business when we put the bomb on her car, so they may know something there..." Lance looked thoughtful, "Or the police could have picked it up so we should have someone check there too. It would be too dangerous for us to show up just in case they know anything. Get a hold of our contacts and see if they can get any information."

The pair started walking back towards their black Mercedes. Lance would personally take care of the Psych Agency. Doubtless he was some kind of con-man but if Cynthia mentioned anything to him he would be a liability to be disposed of, or depending on how the meeting went, he could be another asset to be used as he wished. Either way, Lance was interested in meeting the man who claimed to be a psychic detective.

* * *

**Present:**

"Look man," Shawn raised his hands in a placating gesture, "I can't tell you too much. She came in, stunk the place up with her cheap perfume, went crazy and ran to her car before it blew up. She never even really hired us." Shawn tried, he really tried not to stare at Lance's eye while he talked. Unfortunately the more he thought about not staring the more he stared.

Lance gave Shawn a scrutinizing glare. "Is there a problem?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, noooooo... No problem. I just had something catch my eye... MY ATTENTION... it caught my attention that you might know a good obstriction."

Giving an annoyed glare Lance corrected him, "It is obstetrician."

Shawn shrugged trying to look disinterested, "I've heard it both ways." He really hadn't heard that one both ways but anything to keep the scary guy in front of him from killing him was a good thing.

Movement outside caught all three men's attention. Gus' blue echo had just pulled into the parking lot.

Shawn's eyes widened. "What do I do, what do I do!?" Shawn thought frantically. If anyone was going to freak out as soon as he realized that Lance was here it was Gus. He would freak out, Lance would smell it and probably rip them both to shreds. He had to do something to get Gus out of here, but he couldn't alert Lance either.

Lance was staring out the window. "Who is that?"

"He's uh..." Shawn tried to think quickly. "He's my partner..." As Shawn the words left his mouth an unbelievable idea came to his panicked mind. It was insane, crazy, zany and absolutely brilliant.

Gus was jogging up to the office now. No doubt he had noticed the extra car outside.

Shawn went by the pair of vampires to meet him at the door. "Excuse me for a second gentlemen."

Gus and Shawn met at the door at the same time. Gus was able to give Shawn a puzzled look and say "Shawn? Who is..." Before Shawn grabbed him and kissed him.

Right on the lips.

Gus panicked and started to struggle, trying to push Shawn away. Shawn was not enjoying it any more than Gus was. Both were thinking the same word. "MOUTHWASH"

Not breaking character, Shawn asked a sputtering Gus, "How was your day honey buns?"

Gus started wiping frantically at his mouth. "Oh my GOD Shawn! What is wrong with you?!"

Shawn faked a look of hurt. "Oh, don't be that way pineapple lips! I know you don't like kissing in public but I missed you." Sure enough Shawn's plan was working. Gus was so surprised and angry that he didn't even notice the two men standing right there.

"Have you lost your damn mind Shawn? That is going too far!" Gus threw his hands up in exasperation. "You know what, I have had enough for today. You have a nice night alone..." Gus realized what he had said when Shawn's smile got even wider. "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN SHAWN!" Gus yelled at his insane friend before storming off back to his car.

Shawn hung out the door and made half hearted attempts to get him to come back. "But you promised me a night out!" Giving a heavy sigh he walked back into the office and was met by shocked stares. "Oh, he will be back. He is just shy." Shawn explained and sat sprawling on the couch. "Did you guys need anything else?"

Lance's cocky smirk was gone but that only served to make him even more intimidating. He stepped towards the sitting Shawn and sneered. "You are hiding something psychic, if you really are a psychic." Shawn kept on smiling. Lance thought it was a confirmation that he was hiding something but Shawn was just remembering what he told Gus about vampires all being skeptics.

"It would be in your best interest..." Lance continued, "to make sure you aren't holding anything out on us."

"You know, you guys are probably the most cultured gangsters I have ever seen. Do you serve tea during your shakedowns because I prefer Earl Gray." Shawn was unable to finish because Lance got right into his face. Shawn could not stop his heart from jumping to his throat.

Lances features remained stoic, but Shawn could literally feel the anger coming off him like a heat. Then Shawn saw it. He saw what made Lance so incredibly dangerous and why other vampires were so frightened of him. Complete madness. Lance was as Mick described him, a psychopath. Human emotions or connections were of no importance to this man, everything was a means to an end and if you got in his way or hindered him, you would be tossed aside... or blown up in your car. Shawn finally understood why Cynthia had been on the brink of a breakdown when she came to the office.

"What. Did. She. Tell. You." Lance spoke to Shawn as if talking to a toddler who didn't understand what he was saying.

Shawn was practically shaking, but he would be damned if he gave into this bullying, pompous, heartless, arsonurderer. He could tell Lance was listening to his heart to see if he was lying. Doing his best to keep his breathing and heartbeat steady Shawn glared at Lance and said evenly and in the same condescending voice used on him, "She came in. She said someone was after her. She freaked out. She left. She blew up." Then Shawn prepared himself for the inevitable beating he was about to receive.

Lance took a step back, seeming bored with the whole situation. "Well if you can think, or _divine_ anything else later on here is my card, and if you would take a shower before contacting me it would be a big favor." He put the card on the desk rather than hand it to Shawn. Lance knew he could kill Shawn if he wanted but to put it mildly, Lance didn't want to burn any bridges with one of the only people who may or may not have access to the cure. Plus the psychic's...partner... knew they had been here. If he killed him it would put too much heat on them. He made that mistake with Cynthia earlier. Putting his sunglasses back on Lance walked out the door with his associate.

Shawn didn't move for at least five minutes after Lance left, just to be sure he was gone. He got up and walked over to the desk and picked up the card. It had just a cell phone number on it. Shawn felt incredibly lucky to be alive. He plopped down in Gus' desk chair and took deep breaths. Something from his back pocket was bugging him and he pulled out the vial with the small needle, having almost forgotten what he had just found.

Shawn moved the vial so he could watch the liquid inside slosh back and forth. There was so much going through his mind right then. He had to call Mick because he had found the cure, he had to call Gus and apologize for the kissing, he had to call Carlton because now there was no doubt in his mind that Lance was responsible for all the other fires... so many people he had to call, but only one he wanted to call. He began dialing Juliet's number. When she answered he immediately asked, "Where are you?"

* * *

Juliet walked up to her partner's desk carrying a stack of papers in her good arm. She set them on the desk and pushed others out of the way to make room. Carlton was too busy reading through the other files to notice. It was almost 8pm and both had been working on figuring out the connection between the fires all afternoon, since the information was faxed over, and had come up with very little. Official documents tended to not have information on whether or not the owners of the burned down houses were vampires. Fortunately they were finding other similarities. Carlton spotted it first and it seemed to told true for most of the victims. Some were chemists, doctors, botanists, and herbalists. There were also reports of a black Mercedes at some of the crime scenes. It was a start but not all the proof they needed.

Juliet's phone started to ring. She looked and saw it was Shawn. She nudged Carlton. "It's Shawn, he might have something."

She answered the phone but before she was able to say anything Shawn shaky voice asked, "Where are you?"

"I'm at the station with Carlton, what's wrong?" Carlton looked up at his partner's concerned question. He could smell Juliet was suddenly afraid. Carlton was still learning to identify some of the different scents he now had to deal with but he knew fear. He decided to listen in on the conversation.

"I'll be right there. Don't go anywhere." Shawn hung up.

Juliet looked at the phone in disbelief but it was Carlton who voiced both their concerns. "Since when is Spencer that to the point?"

"There must really be something wrong." Juliet chewed the bottom of her lip nervously before walking over to the pile on Carlton's desk. Without another word both continued to look through the information until ten minutes later when a crash came from the front doors.

Half the station jumped at the noise as Shawn burst through the heavy station doors. Surprisingly the glass did not break as the door bounced off the wall with a lot more force than he had intended. Noticing Juliet moving to the hallway to see what the commotion was Shawn rushed to her.

Juliet grunted as Shawn grabbed her in a firm hug and lifted her off her feet. He put his head on her neck and sniffed deeply still holding her off her feet. Juliet was concerned at first but noticing her boyfriend was obviously upset about something she didn't say anything, only hugged him back. Even if he did stink a bit. Juliet's phone started to ring but she ignored it as this was the most intimate contact she had with Shawn since the whole ordeal started almost two weeks ago, she didn't even mind that it was in the middle of the station... and people were starting to stare.

Carlton's nose wrinkled. As soon as Shawn came close he got a whiff of something that smelled like a foul animal. "Spencer what the hell, you smell like crap." Shawn and Juliet both ignored him, too caught up in the moment to notice the annoyed detective. When his phone rang he answered it right away, anything to get him away from the sickeningly romantic sight in front of him. "Lassiter." He answered.

"Lassie, it's Gus. Where is Juliet? She isn't answering her phone and I have to talk to her about Shawn. He is acting weird."

Carlton snorted, "You're telling me? He just ran into the station and grabbed my partner."

"What are you talking about? He is at the station?"

"That's what I said Guster. He called wondering where she was then when he got here he came in and started... hugging O'Hara." Carlton didn't want to think about Shawn and his partner in an intimate way at all.

"Oh no, I will be right there..."

Carlton was starting to get angry at being kept in the dark. "Wait a second Guster, are you going to tell me what is going on here?"

"He is freaking out. Just don't upset him more. I should have known something was wrong." Guster chastised himself then hung up.

Carlton's attention snapped to Shawn, he knew he was going to be sorry but he sniffed deeply. There was that gross animal smell... but under that there was something else. Something Carlton had not thought Shawn was capable of feeling. Fear. "Something big had to have happened." Carlton reasoned.

He stepped forward and tried to get Shawn's attention. He knew the display of affection couldn't go on much longer without arousing suspicion. "Spencer, lets go. You can't do this right here." He wasn't expecting Shawn's white eyes to shoot open and a terrifying growl to be aimed in his direction. Carlton stepped back as if slapped. "What was that?" Carlton wondered.

Juliet was the one to diffuse the situation. "Shawn, lets go downstairs so you can talk with us." Shawn let her go, looked her in the eyes and nodded. Juliet put her good hand on Shawn's back and led him down the stairs.

Carlton stared at Shawn as he left wondering what could have caused that reaction out of the usually unreadable man. Gus was there less than a minute later so Carlton didn't have much time to muse.

"Where's Shawn?" Gus asked, out of breath.

Carlton pointed down the stairs. "You may want to hang back a bit Guster. He is really bad off. How did you know he was so upset? Did you do this?" Giving the younger man an accusing glare.

"Don't look at me!" Gus looked indignant. "I got back to the office after we went out to Cynthia's house and Shawn met me at the doorway and... acted weird. Anyway, I left and after I calmed down I tried calling Juliet."

"Why was he acting weird? Was there anyone else there with him?" The detective in Carlton smelled something fishy.

Gus thought about it and realized, yes. There had been other people there. "Yeah, two guys in a black Mercedes. I remember thinking the car was nice."

"Sweet holy justice!" Carlton's eyes widened and he sped down to the interrogation room with a confused Gus on his heels.

* * *

Shawn and Juliet got to the interrogation room and just settled into adjoining chairs when Carlton came in the room followed by Gus. Gus was surprised at the ashen look on his friend's face and it confirmed his suspicions that something was very wrong.

Shawn looked up and saw Gus. A small smile formed on his lips, he was glad his friend was here and not hating him forever for what he had to do. "Hey buddy."

Carlton and Gus took the chairs on the other side of the table. Leaning forward on the counter Carlton tentatively asked Shawn, "What did Lance say to you?"

Shawn was a bit impressed that Carlton figured it out without him having to say anything but both Gus and Juliet were struck speechless. "You know, he said the usual. What do you know, if you don't tell me bad things will happen."

Gus, finding his voice, looked at Carlton. "How did you know he saw Lance?"

"One of the patterns in the witness statements mentioned a black Mercedes. When you said that one was parked at Psych I put two and two together." Carlton admitted. Juliet, getting it now nodded.

"Good one Lassie, I always knew you could do math, no matter what everyone else says." Shawn was starting to sound more like his old self even if he was still leaning towards Juliet for emotional support.

Carlton growled at the jab. "Can the sarcasm Spencer, what did Lance want to know?"

Frowning, Shawn knew he couldn't tell Carlton about the cure right away, he might over react. He was even thinking about not telling Juliet but one more lie that big between them could completely wreck any chance he had with her. "They thought that Cynthia had said something to us about the cure and where she hid it. He said she stole something from him and he wanted to know where it was to get it back. I told him I didn't know anything about it."

"Right, I am supposed to believe you got a lie that big off in front of a three century old vampire." Carlton scoffed disbelievingly. "He could have told you were lying from a mile away."

Shawn looked at Carlton seriously. He took a deep breath and said, "It wasn't Gus and I that kept crank calling you about free cruises and wicker furniture a few years ago."

Carlton knew for sure that it was them that did that. Shawn had already admitted it and his heartbeat should have given away that he was lying... but it wasn't. Carlton's jaw dropped in realization. "Spencer, you cheated on that lie detector?!"

"There is no proof of that Lassie." Shawn said matter of factly before turning to Juliet. "What else did you find out about the people in the fires?"

"A lot of them were in scientific professions. Herbalists, botanists..." Juliet saw Shawn was nodding as if coming to some kind of conclusion.

It wasn't a pleasant thought but Shawn told them what he was thinking. "Lance is killing everyone who knew about or helped develop the cure."

"How are we going to stop him?" Gus asked aloud to no one in particular.

Carlton, still upset over Shawn getting the better of him, again. Said something he knew he would probably regret. "Stop him? He had Spencer here almost blubbering within five minutes. I have been trying to get to him for over six years..."

Shawn got up and walked out the door in a huff.

"Carlton!" Juliet yelled and swatted at her partner. Gus just glared at him and went to go catch Shawn.

"What?!" Carlton said in an indignant whine.

* * *

Gus fell into step next to Shawn as he ascended the stairs. "What else happened Shawn? There was more to it than what you said in there. If there wasn't you wouldn't be so upset."

Sighing, Shawn reached in his back pocket and pulled out the vial of cure. "She put it in the couch of all places. I found it just before Lance arrived." Shawn explained.

"Is that what I think it is?" Gus asked in awe.

Shawn nodded. "I think it is. I just want to be sure about it before I start broadcasting it." He handed the small object to Gus. "I need you to keep it safe for me."

Gus gave his friend a confused stare, "What?"

Giving Gus his sad puppy look he squirmed a bit. "Think of it as a sorry for what happened at the office. I was just trying to protect you. I do trust you and I don't want you to think I drove you away because I didn't trust you buddy."

Gus took the cure from Shawn and gave him a brotherly hug. "You ever kiss me again Shawn and I really will kill you."

Juliet chose that moment to walk up to the hugging pair. Seeing she was watching they broke apart quickly and did a small fist bump instead. "Is there something I should know Shawn?" Juliet smirked. She knew how close Shawn and Gus were and it amused her that they were constantly embarrassed to show it.

"Nothing important Jules." He leaned forward, took her hand, and gave her a small kiss. "Sorry I got all grippy and everything back there."

"Shawn that is what I am here for." She gave his hand a squeeze. Remembering the reason he left the room she tried to explain away her partner's stupidity. "Shawn, about what Carlton said..."

Shawn held up a hand to stop her. "He is right. The dude is scary, scary in general and scary strong. Lassie and me have been vampires a week. He is over three hundred." Shawn rubbed his lip. "Is there a way I could take a look at some of the files. I might be able to find something."

Juliet nodded and motioned them up the rest of the stairs to the detective desks. There were two piles of papers. "This is one that we have looked through and I just got these other ones faxed to me."

Shawn however, had stopped listening. He cocked his head and squinted as he noticed a paper on top of the old pile. It was a condensed victim's list that said who owned the house and how many fatalities there were. The name near the middle is the one that caught his attention. The fire was from almost a month before.

Owner: Dr. Aaron Lonsdale (Deceased)

-Suspected victim number 6. Unable to identify bodies due to advanced incineration.

Licking his lips nervously Shawn tried to find his voice, which was becoming a problem lately. "Juliet, Gus... I think we may have a bit of a problem." He saw the shocked expressions on their faces as he pointed to the name of his sire.


	8. A Little Heart to Heart

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: The ripples from "No Such Thing As Psychics" are going to start to be seen as the gang starts to figure out what happened to Aaron and why. :D**

* * *

**Chapter 8- A Little Heart to Heart**

"This is all Lance's fault?" Gus asked Shawn in a fierce whisper.

Getting the connection Juliet continued, "He burned down Aaron's house and killed his family. _That's_ what drove him crazy and it caused him to turn you and Morgan."

"And Lassie." Shawn added quickly.

Both Juliet and Gus gave Shawn a puzzled look but Gus was the one who said, "But Aaron didn't…" Before Shawn elbowed him and motioned at Carlton, who was coming up the stairs behind them.

"Aaron didn't do what Guster?" Carlton asked gruffly.

Gus put on his "smooth" face before replying, "What I meant was, Aaron didn't plan on turning you. It just sort of happened."

Carlton's eyes narrowed in suspicion before Juliet interrupted. "Look at what Shawn found."

Looking at the entry, Carlton exclaimed, "Is that who I think it is?"

Shawn pursed his lips and nodded.

Narrowing his eyes, Carlton growled, "So this all goes back to Lance."

"We found some prints out at Cynthia's house. Lance admitted to being out there. He was looking for something and stopped by Psych to see if Cynthia had given it to us." Shawn gave Gus a meaningful look."

Carlton started to pace. "We can't even bring him in for questioning. It would be too dangerous."

Shawn could feel Carlton's anger spiking. He was starting to figure out that the closer he was to Carlton the more he could feel things. "Note to self," Shawn thought, "Get the name of a good relaxation spa and get Lassie a lifetime membership." He almost laughed at his own joke. A lifetime membership would be pretty cost effective for a vampire.

"Spencer!" Carlton tried to snap Shawn out of whatever train of thought caused him to zone out.

Blinking and trying to shake the lingering feeling of Carlton's emotional spike, Shawn reached into his windbreaker's pocket and pulled out the bottle of animal scent. "Lassie catch!" He tossed it to the detective. "It's what saved me. Lance couldn't smell me through that."

"Well this explains why you smell like a garbage heap." Carlton tossed the scent back. "I'd rather kiss a porcupine than wear that Spencer."

Shawn suppressed the urge to grit his teeth at Carlton's stubbornness and made it look like it was no big deal. "Your loss Lass."

Gus saw through his friend's act and figured it was time to get some rest after the day Shawn had. "I don't know about you guys, but I am hungry and beat."

"Yeah. We should get some rest before we have to talk to the BCA tomorrow." Juliet agreed.

Shawn gave her a little squeeze around the shoulders and Carlton rolled his eyes. "We still on for tomorrow?" Shawn asked his girlfriend.

"6pm Shawn." Juliet stated before kissing him goodbye.

"Let's go get you some food buddy. I can hear your stomach grumbling." Shawn smiled and bumped his friend's fist before turning around and giving a fluttery finger wave goodbye to the detectives.

As soon as the pair was gone Juliet smacked Carlton on the arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

Juliet glared at her partner. "You need to apologize to Shawn. He is just trying to help and you saw how shook up he was by Lance. You still had to push him didn't you?"

"He started it! You saw what he did earlier." Carlton defended. "Tell me that wasn't weird and I will march right over to that hole in the wall office of theirs and apologize right now."

Juliet knew she couldn't deny what happened was weird. She didn't know exactly what Shawn did besides growl a bit, but it really affected her partner. So Juliet merely shook her head and sighed. "You know what. We should call it a night too. You look pretty frazzled yourself."

Carlton rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah I guess I should turn in. I will see you tomorrow O'Hara. I might be a little late. I am visiting Marlowe in the morning."

Juliet smiled as she grabbed her jacket. Visiting Marlowe always put her partner in a better mood. "See you later Carlton."

* * *

Shawn stretched and sat at his laptop. It felt good to be home, even if it was a little empty without Juliet there. She had become a regular visitor before everything happened and he missed that. Shawn hoped things would eventually get back to normal, starting with his date tomorrow.

After an hour of web surfing, Shawn leaned back and closed the laptop. Smiling, he hoped Juliet would like the surprise that he had planned for her. He was going all out. Dinner, dancing and he would finally be able to have some time alone with her afterwards to talk. "Yep, tomorrow is going to be a great night." He thought to himself before heading to the fridge for a blood pack.

Finishing the blood quickly, Shawn grabbed his coat again and headed out. He had told Gus that he was going to get some rest, which was true. He would get some rest eventually, but first he had something to take care of.

During the week of training Mick and Josef touched on everything the group should be able to "_normally"_ do as vampires. Speed, strength, acute senses, and super healing were the main ones but they also said that it was up to each one of them to figure out the extent of their abilities. Shawn had been unable to test his accurately to due to the fact that if he had trumped Carlton in each exercise, things would have seemed suspicious. So, painfully suppressing his natural competitiveness, he hung back making it look like Morgan, being the super spy he was, was a bit stronger than the two of them. Being naturally modest, Morgan had tried to blame it on training rather than extra ability. So things worked out and Carlton didn't suspect a thing.

It was full dark when Shawn left his apartment and walked the four miles to the warehouse. It was the same one Aaron had taken Shawn to when the crazy vampire had staked and abducted him right out of the hospital. Shawn figured Aaron had to have owned the building to make sure that no one would be walking in on them when he had Shawn chained to a wall, so it should still be empty for now.

Shawn entered the warehouse and looked around. Everything was exactly the same, if not a little cleaner. There were catwalks surrounding an empty area that only included a freezer in the corner. All the blood had been cleaned up, his and Carlton's, and it would be hard to tell anything had really happened here at all except for a couple blood stains.

Swinging his arms back and forth, Shawn tried to figure out where to start. He shrugged off his jacket and looked up. The metal rafters had to be at least twenty to thirty feet up. Crouching down, Shawn leaped for them. He easily grabbed a hold of one of the steel bars and pulled himself up so he could sit on the edge and dangle his feet. "That was kind of fun." Shawn admitted to himself. "Almost like Spiderman…" Shawn trailed off, realizing that he had been a vampire for almost two weeks and he had not had the chance to enjoy it a bit. Sure some of the movie nights they did during training were fun but just being able to goof around was something Shawn needed after the crappy day he had.

Shawn flipped over and hung from the rafter by his legs. He was about to jump down when he heard the warehouse door open and a familiar face entered.

"Spencer!" Lassiter Looked up and saw the psychic hanging upside down. "Do I even want to ask what you are doing?"

Shawn gave a small sigh. "So much for some down time." he grumbled to himself." Staying where he was he shouted to the detective. "Come on up Lassie!"

"Spencer knock it off!" The exasperation in Carlton's voice coupled with the fact that Shawn knew he was in some kind of emotional jumble sobered his mood. He let go and did a rather impressive flip and landed on his feet. Shawn had already figured out that vampires had the same equilibrium balancer that cats had. Pretty useful for not landing on your ass every time you jumped.

Carlton rolled his eyes. That trick was old hat to him and he didn't want to give Shawn any more reason to show off. "Spencer, how did you know I would be here?"

"Usually I would be hurt you would have to ask that question." He pointed to his head, "But this time I didn't. I came here for some privacy. I can't very well hang from my own ceiling can I?" Shawn circled Lassiter a bit and gave him a scrutinizing gaze. "Why are you here?"

"I am an officer of the law and this was a crime scene. I can be here if I want to." Carlton gave Shawn a defiant look.

Realizing this was only going to turn into an argument he didn't want to have, Shawn walked away. "Fine then Lassie. Have at your crime scene."

Carlton saw Shawn was pouting as he walked away. His conscience getting the best of him he stopped him. "Wait."

"What?" Shawn stopped and gave Carlton an annoyed look, expecting to be insulted in some way.

It took a second for Carlton to work up the nerve to say what he wanted to. "I'm sorry about making fun of you earlier. It was cruel and unprofessional."

Shawn was completely taken aback. Carlton Lassiter had just apologized to him. "Are you drunk Lassie?"

"No Spencer I am not drunk. I am just..." Carlton trailed off. Was he really about to share his feelings with Shawn?

"Look Carlton. I had a bad day and took it out on you too." Shawn mumbled his own apology. "First it was that stupid dream, and then my client blew up, not to mention getting staked by my dad..."

"Wait a second...Henry staked you?" Carlton raised his eyebrow at Shawn.

"He thought it was a good idea at the time. He wanted to see if I would be able to pull it out."

Now Carlton's curiosity peaked. "Did you?"

Shawn grimaced at the memory. "It took a while but yeah."

"Damn Spencer." Mick had said it was almost impossible but it almost didn't surprise Carlton that someone as stubborn as Shawn could manage it.

"So what are you really doing here Lassie?" Shawn felt the need to change the subject.

Carlton turned and looked at the section of floor that had a large stain next to the wall. That was where he was turned just over a week ago. "You knew Aaron right? At least for a little while?"

Shawn was surprised at the question. "Yeah. We met." He said simply.

"He was crazy though?"

Shawn rubbed his lip. It wasn't a pleasant memory. He had been in pain and misery at the time. "Just a bit of an understatement there. I don't think I helped any though. Getting kidnapped doesn't put me in my best mood."

Carlton turned away from the stain and looked at Shawn, actually getting to the question he had been wanting to know the answer to. "Spencer, do you wonder if before the fire, he was normal? That losing everyone he cared about is what drove him bonkers?"

Shawn figured where Carlton was going with the question and understood completely because he was wondering the same thing. If he could feel when something happened to Carlton, how would it have felt to have five people whose emotions and pain you could feel... let alone feeling the pain of their deaths?

"Spencer! You are spacing out again." Carlton waved his hand in front of Shawn's face. If Carlton didn't know better he would say Spencer was being a bit more contemplative as of late.

Shawn shook his head. "Sorry lassie. Been spacey lately. The spirits have been a bit distracting."

"Right… Anyway, I was just a bit bothered. This guy. I don't even know, changed me forever. I wanted to know a bit more about him...why is your heart speeding up Spencer?" Carlton looked at him suspiciously.

Shawn's eyes widened and he thought quickly to make up an excuse. "I don't like thinking about him is all. You may be a bit nostalgic, but what I know is he tried to make me murder an innocent girl."

"Fair enough." Carlton saw Shawn was still squirming a bit, which usually meant he had more to say. "Ok spit it out Spencer. What?"

"Do you hate him for turning you?" Shawn asked looking down at his feet.

Carlton had never really thought about it. O'Hara had told him that he would have died if Aaron hadn't turned him, but it was Aaron's fault he was hurt in the first place. "I am not happy with the situation, but I am glad I am not dead. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes. Yes it does." Shawn nodded. He felt a bit better knowing Carlton didn't hate the fact that he saved him.

Both men were quiet for a while as they each tried to process the emotions and thoughts going through their minds. "Spencer." Carlton interrupted the silence. "Did we just have a rational, grown up conversation?"

"Well I'll be damned. We really did Lassie." Shawn snorted in amusement.

"At least I can tell O'Hara I apologized and she'll get off my back about it." Carlton stated. "She can be relentless."

"Yes she can, but that is what we love about her." Shawn gave Carlton a light sock on the arm before his face turned serious. "Lassie, do me a favor. If you ever end up seeing Lance for yourself, run."

Giving Shawn a petulant look Carlton asked, "Why?"

"You'll know when you see him. Just, don't mess with him and get out fast." Shawn put his fingers to his temples. "I have a feeling he is not going to stop or leave here until he finds what he is looking for, and will get rid of anyone who gets in his way."

Carlton shook his head. "I wish I could do that Spencer, but vampire or not I have to protect the citizens of this city."

"Ok, but watch out for him. He makes Aaron look like the picture of mental health." He chuckled wryly before heading towards the warehouse door. "Catch you later Lassie." Shawn gave Carlton a wave and walked out.

Carlton followed a minute later with one more glance at the stain on the floor, the last place he was when he was still human.


	9. Precious Jules

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: I loved writing this chapter because it is about time I was able to put in some Shules action.**

* * *

**Chapter 9- Precious Jules**

Juliet got to the station around 9am. She was eager to get a start on her work so she could finish early that evening and get ready for her date with Shawn. He had been so romantic when he asked her and she couldn't wait to see what he had planned. Noticing Carlton was at his desk already and was talking to the Chief, Juliet walked over to the pair. "Carlton, you look like hell. Did you even sleep last night?" With the bags under his eyes she guessed the answer.

"I'm fine O'Hara, I was just telling the Chief here the same thing." Carlton grumbled. He didn't like being fawned over.

"Detective Lassiter I appreciate your dedication, but you don't have to do an extra week's worth of work to make up for your vacation time." Karen gave a wry smile. She knew how dedicated her detectives were but she could see something was bugging Carlton.

Changing the subject Carlton asked, "When are the BCA officials showing up?"

Giving up the argument Karen answered, "They should be here around 10am. Call Mr. Spencer when they arrive. They will most likely want his and Mr. Guster's statements about what happened and don't let them slip out of it." She gave the detectives a serious look before heading back to her office.

Squinting suspiciously and watching Karen leave Juliet asked her partner, "Does the Chief seem moodier to you when she is pregnant?"

Only half paying attention and still pouring over the files in front of him Carlton replied "I don't know about that but she does smell different. Well, different than normal people." Seeing Juliet's raised eyebrow he babbled on, "Normal as in not pregnant people. Not that I go out of my way to sniff pregnant people, or most people in general..."

Holding up a hand Juliet stopped her partner. "Carlton, you are rambling, you really must be tired. Weren't you supposed to visit Marlowe today?"

"I tried but she got put on lockdown for a few days for punching another inmate in the sternum." Carlton smiled and got a dreamy look in his eyes. Juliet figured he was probably envisioning Marlowe kicking the crap out of someone.

"Right Carlton. We should get everything together for when the agent's show up, and get you some _coffee_ if you haven't had some already." Juliet stressed the word coffee so Carlton would really know what she meant.

"I've already had some. You are getting just as bad as Spencer." Carlton started gathering the files together and walking to one of the meeting rooms where they would be talking to the agents.

Juliet followed closely behind him, carrying what she could. "What are we going to tell them when they get here? We can't say anything about Lance can we?"

"I honestly don't know. The only thing I can think of is we give them the facts and see if they can tell us anything we don't already know that could help us find what Lance was looking for." Carlton sniffed and looked over his partner's shoulder. "Looks like they came early."

Two official looking men walked in. Both were wearing expensive suits, one gray, worn by an older blond man with short cropped hair and one black, worn by a younger red haired man with a moustache. Carlton stood up straighter and he made sure his shirt was tucked in. He wanted to make a good impression with the pair.

"Really Carlton?" Juliet saw what her partner did and shook her head as he gave her a shrug.

Approaching the two men Carlton introduced himself. "Welcome, I am head detective Carlton Lassiter. This is my partner Juliet O'Hara." He gestured towards the waiting junior detective who offered her hand.

The older man shook her hand, "I am investigator Gerald Hanson, this is my partner Nathan Treger." The younger man didn't say anything, he only looked Juliet up and down with approval giving her a look that almost mirrored Gus' when he was trying to pick up a girl. Greg continued, oblivious to his partner's ogling. "We would like to get started right away if you don't mind. Time is of the essence. We don't want another death added to the list do we?"

Juliet turned to her partner. "I will call Shawn while you show them to the meeting room."

Carlton left Juliet to make the call as he ushered the two men into the room. "We weren't expecting you this early we had planned to set up a bit more but if you like I can show you what we have now." Carlton took out the file on Cynthia Davis and slid it to the pair as they took seats around the table. "We responded to a call reporting an explosion outside of the Psych detective agency at around 10:30am yesterday. The explosion was witnessed by a few people who were on the boardwalk at the time as well as the owners of the agency."

Gerald leaned forward and folded his hands. "Your Chief informed us that this…" He looked at the paperwork to get the name. "…Shawn Spencer, is often contracted through this station as a psychic detective?" He made no attempt to hide the skepticism in his voice. "I find that hard to believe."

Carlton pursed his lips. He was actually going to have to defend Shawn. "Isn't this O'Hara's job?" he thought bitterly. "Shawn Spencer has worked with this department for the past six years, obviously if he wasn't some sort of a help, we wouldn't keep hiring him." Carlton stated simply.

"Alright then." Gerald humored the detective. "I will need his statement on what happened for our investigation."

"My partner is already on it." Carlton turned towards the door and shouted, "O'Hara!"

A few seconds later Juliet entered the meeting room. "Shawn and Gus are on their way." She confirmed.

The younger investigator, Nathan, leaned towards Juliet. "So, can you tell us what you have found so far that makes you think this case has anything to do with the arson fires?"

Flinching back from the uncomfortable closeness of the man Juliet realized that this was going to be a long meeting before she composed herself and started telling the investigators about the events of the previous day.

* * *

Shawn woke to his phone ringing. Groaning he lifted the lid on his freezer and blindly groped for his phone. Looking at the display he saw it was Juliet and smiled. Despite his happiness to hear his girlfriend's voice Shawn was unable to hide his grogginess when he answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Shawn, we need you down at the station. The BCA guys are here and need your witness statement."

Sitting up with a sigh Shawn shook his head as the previous day's events quickly replayed themselves in his mind. "Ok Jules. I will be in." A catty look came across Shawn's face and he decided to tease her a bit. "So, what are you wearing? Lemme guess..." He closed his eyes and pictured her closet and what she wore yesterday, the next outfit in line was..."You are wearing a gray pantsuit with your pink shirt. Pink really is your color Jules."

"You are going to have to tell me how you do that Shawn Spencer. Until then, get down here and save me from Lassiter. You know how he gets when government people show up. I am surprised he hasn't already asked for their autograph or something."

A voice in the background shouted, "O'Hara!"

"I have to go Shawn, see you when you get here." Juliet hung up.

Shawn got dressed and down to the station in record time, he had called Gus on the way telling him to meet him there. "Just don't mouth off too much before I get there." Gus chided his friend.

"Gus, I'm hurt. You know I know how much you enjoy watching me work." Shawn joked. "I will see you there."

* * *

The station was in full swing when Shawn came through the doors. A bunch of officers nodded at him as he passed, others looked at him a bit concerned. He figured those were the officers that had been there the night before for his little melt down. Giving them reassuring smiles he continued down the hall until he spotted Juliet and Carlton in a meeting room.

He looked in the window and saw that one of the BCA guys, a younger one was making bedroom eyes at his girlfriend. He couldn't see Juliet's face from this vantage point but he hoped it was mirroring the disgust he was now feeling. "So much for waiting for Gus." Shawn thought as he made his entrance. He would just have to apologize to Juliet when he could for what he was about to do.

Shawn walked calmly into the room, keeping his eye on the red headed man. "Gentlemen! I believe you wanted to see me?" He reached out his hand, "Shawn Spencer, psychic detective."

"Nathan Treger. That's my partner Gerald Hanson." Taking Shawn's hand Nathan winced at the other man's grip.

Shawn pulled the other man close and whispered in his ear. "Dude, she isn't interested. I don't have to be a psychic to figure that out."

Nathan glared at Shawn. "I'll be the judge of that."

Carlton, who heard the exchange, smirked. "This may just get interesting." He didn't like the agent hitting on his partner any more than Shawn did.

"Judge of what?" Gerald asked confused at his partner's random outburst.

Shawn shook his head. "Nothing important. So, what did you need to know from me?"

"We need to know what you saw and what Cynthia Davis may have said to you before she died." Gerald took out a recorder and put it on the table. "This is investigator Hanson interviewing Shawn Spencer on February 27th 10:13am..."

Shawn recanted the whole experience for the umpteenth time. Gus came in about half way through and gave him a disapproving glare for not waiting for him. Since he was there he added what he saw as well. Shawn made sure to give as much detail as possible about what happened during Cynthia's visit to Psych, sans vampire comments.

"Why did Ms. Davis just suddenly run out of your office?" Gerald questioned.

Apprehensive glances were aimed at Shawn from Juliet and Gus. Even Carlton looked a bit nervous, but he only showed it by leaning back and folding his arms. "I honestly don't know. She may have seen something out of the window behind me because after Gus went to the kitchen she looked scared and left in a hurry." Shawn lied.

Nathan, feeling snide, interjected, "Aren't you supposed to be psychic? Couldn't you just tell what was wrong with her?"

Shawn gave the investigator an annoyed look, but what he was really doing is giving his appearance a once over. He noticed some interesting things about the cocky man. "The spirits don't tell me everything, but right now they are giving me something about you." Putting his fingers to his head his eyes zoned into the lipstick on his collar, the way his tie was just barely off center, and he smelled a faint perfume that wasn't Juliet's… "I'm getting something about your facial hair and… Ferris wheels, roller coasters, bumper cars…"

"The fair?" Gus guessed.

Juliet decided to play along. She was always good at guessing what Shawn was getting at. "Rides?"

"Yes, Jules! Rides." Turning back to Nathan Shawn gave a disgusted look as he pointed at his face. "Just today you were giving out free mustache rides, probably right before leaving your hotel room. For shame!"

The look of shock on Nathan's face and the intrigued noise from Gerald told Shawn that he was right on the money. "How dare you…." Nathan started to get into Shawn's face but Gerald stopped him.

"Mr. Spencer. We need to know if you know anything else about Cynthia Davis. We don't care if you are actually psychic or not. Our job is to get to the bottom of this crime." Gerald wiped away some sweat on his forehead looking a bit too nervous.

Both Carlton and Shawn caught the increase in the investigator's heart rate. Shawn looked Gerald in the eye and shrugged. "That is all I know about her. The spirits mentioned she may know the killer but they are being eerily silent on this one."

Nathan scoffed but Gerald nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer. "Be sure to contact us if you come up with anything else Mr. Spencer."

Shawn nodded at Gerald and cast a brief glare at Nathan before walking up to Juliet and giving her a kiss on the cheek then mouthing from behind her and pointing "I tap that."

Juliet, who missed Shawn's gesturing, was a bit perturbed at Shawn's obvious jealousy towards Nathan but she did enjoy the look of shock and rage when he realized they were a couple. "Maybe now he will keep his mustache to himself." Juliet thought with a smile.

Shawn motioned to Carlton before leaving, "Lassie, could you come here a sec?" Carlton sighed and rose from his chair.

Carlton joined Shawn and Gus in the hallway. "Lassie, there is something off with them, or at least Gerald."

"What are you talking about Spencer?" Carlton feigned ignorance.

Shawn gave an exasperated sigh, "Lassie, don't be Gus after watching 'The Young and the Restless.' You know what I am talking about." Gus tisked in Shawn's direction, annoyed with the comparison.

Carlton pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Spencer, you don't trust them because Treger hit on O'Hara."

"Well there's that and the fact that Gerald in there seemed overly desperate to get any information on Cynthia." Shawn pointed out.

"Look, all I know is that these two are as committed to catching Lance as we are so they are probably just frustrated with the deaths that keep happening on their watch. Unfortunately we have to figure out a way to get Lance without these two finding out anything about vampires, or getting killed in the process." Carlton grimaced. "This whole thing is putting a bad taste in my mouth."

Shawn continued to push the issue, "Lassie I am getting a strong feeling that something is up with these guys."

"Yeah Spencer." Carlton put on a fake sincere look. He had gotten fed up with Shawn's _feelings_. "I will be sure to go with your feelings on this one instead of on the investigators that have been on this case for over a month. Now if you'll excuse me I have to join my partner."

Shawn and Gus watched as Carlton stalked back in the room and closed the door with more force than necessary. "He is a jackass sometimes." Gus was an expert at pointing out the obvious.

"Yeah, but the jackass is my responsibility now." Shawn turned and stalked away down the hall.

Gus caught up to his friend and asked, "So what are we going to do about Lance? Should we let Mick know about the cure and what is going on?"

Shaking his head Shawn replied, "I don't know about that buddy. Mick is pretty obsessed when it comes to this cure business and I don't know if he is going to rush in here head first without thinking and tip Lance off. Our best defense right now is that he has no idea we have it."

"So we do nothing?" Gus gave Shawn a confused look. It wasn't like him to sit on things for long.

They reached the door and Shawn put on his sunglasses before they headed out. "I don't know what to do right now. There is a psychopathic killer vampire who wants nothing more than to kill us if he knew what I was and what you have." Seeing the terrified look on Gus' face over his outburst made him hate himself instantly.

"Shawn, I don't want to die!" Gus started to panic.

"Pull yourself together Gus!" Shawn turned towards his friend and put his hands on Gus' shoulders. "We aren't going to die. What we are going to do is spend the day relaxing, playing Xbox and helping me get ready to go on a date with the awesomest girl in the world… ok?"

Calming down Gus nodded vigorously. Letting his friend go Shawn nudged him towards the Blueberry. "I will meet you at the office and will grab you some snacks man. Doritos?"

"You know that's right!" Gus fist bumped his friend and they climbed in their cars.

* * *

It was just after 4pm when the investigators left the SBPD. The detectives were more than helpful in giving them the information they had on Cynthia Davis. They did confirm that the same accelerant was used that would connect at least the house fire with the other arson cases. It had been tedious work. They had talked with the detectives, gone out to lunch, poured over more evidence and met with Chief Karen Vick. It had definitely been a full, tiring day.

Detective Carlton Lassiter had asked them about visiting one of the older arson scenes with them. He claimed he had noticed something in one of the files and wanted to see the evidence for himself, but they had explained that permission would have to be granted for that to happen. Their boss was very clear at what he wanted them to find out from the police and as far as the investigators were concerned their work here was done.

Nathan turned to his partner as they climbed into their car. "That was easier that I thought. What did you think about the psychic guy besides the fact that he was a dick."

"I don't know. If he was all that psychic he would have picked up on more than just your little tryst this morning." Gerald shrugged. "We got the information from him we needed. He didn't know anything, the boss will be glad to hear it."

They drove in silence the rest of the way back to the hotel and headed up to their room and report in as soon as possible. They weren't expecting anyone to be sitting in the easy chair staring at them when they entered… but there was.

"You two took longer than expected to get back to me, so I decided to pay you a visit." Both men almost jumped out of their skin at the unexpected voice.

"Lance, we just got out of there and were going to call you." Gerald looked at the seated man. He had contacted them a month ago while they were working the arson cases and had been working for him while still employed at the BCA. Both men knew what Lance was, they had to in order to keep certain information out of the official reports. Gerald had not expected Lance to come personally though. Most of their conversations were over the phone, which was fine with him because the vampire gave him the creeps.

"What did you find out about the police? Did they know anything they shouldn't?" Lance's smooth even voice didn't betray the frustration he was feeling.

"The police don't know anything out of the ordinary, they are putting together some witness statements about your Mercedes and they also had enough evidence to link the house fire and car explosion to the other fires but nothing new that could point them to you personally." Gerald admitted readily.

Nathan decided to add his two cents worth, "The psychic didn't give us anything new either. He was probably telling you the truth that he didn't know anything."

Lance was across the room in seconds, inches away from Nathan's face. "I know he was hiding something. I told you to find out what it was, not to tell me I am wrong." Lance was about to step away when he caught the distinct smell of vampire clinging to the investigator. "Who have you two been spending time with?" Lance demanded.

Nathan was too scared to speak, so Gerald did it for him. "We spent all day with a couple detectives. They were head detective Carlton Lassiter, a tall guy with a stick up his ass, and detective Juliet O'Hara, youngish woman with blond hair."

"Did they do or say anything out of the ordinary?" Lance backed away from Nathan who visibly relaxed at the distance.

Gerald frowned, thinking. "Detective Lassiter seemed pretty interested in a ride along to one of the fire sites. He said he wanted to see some evidence for himself after reading the reports. It was the Aaron Lonsdale fire from earlier this month."

Lance remembered Aaron. He had been one of the doctors orchestrating the trials for the cure and seeing a vampire's physical reactions. This was worse than Lance thought. If another vampire was poking around he could alert others to what he was up to. Lance was so close to getting rid of all evidence of the cure he could taste it. He didn't need someone ruining all the hard work he had accomplished so something had to be done. "You have done well, but there is one more thing I will need you to do. So do not leave the city just yet." As Lance walked to the door he stated, "I'll be in touch shortly."

* * *

As soon as the investigators left, Juliet was heading for the door. She had to get home and get ready for her date with Shawn. She had been excited to get out of there all day, especially with the investigators taking up all their time. Juliet had been very worried she would not make it until Carlton had actually offered to finish up her paperwork so she could leave. As gruff as her partner was he did have a good heart when it counted.

Juliet arrived home and immediately took a quick shower, washing her hair and enjoying the feel of the hot water on her broken wrist, which had been aching all day. She had barely gotten out and put on her robe when there was a knock at the door. Looking at the clock she noticed it was not yet 5:15pm. "Shawn! That better not be you! I am not even dressed yet…" She trailed off as she opened the door and saw a very red faced delivery man with a package in his hand.

"Mam, I just need you to sign for this." He said, averting his eyes as much as possible.

"Thank you." Juliet said embarrassed. She was wearing a robe, but that didn't make it any less awkward. She signed quickly and brought the box into the house. Juliet un-wrapped it quickly to discover a tissue wrapped piece of clothing with a bow and tag on it. The tag read:

_Jules, _

_I thought you might want to wear something special tonight. _

_Pink really is your color._

Setting the card down and quickly pulling apart the tissue paper, Juliet gasped at the contents. It was a long form fitting pink dress with a pearlescent shimmer, in her exact size no less, complete with matching clutch purse, shoes… and matching wrist brace. Tears came to Juliet's eyes at Shawn's sweetness. He had really put a lot of effort into this for her.

Juliet was surprised how good the dress looked on her. She made sure to make the rest of her match, pink was her favorite color so she had plenty to go with it. Once she was done she wished she had a camera. Her blond hair was curled and flowing, the dress made her look and feel like a princess.

The doorbell jarred her from her preening and she excitedly opened the door. It was Shawn, dressed to the nines in a black tuxedo with a green vest and tie that matched his eyes, over a white undershirt. A smile came to Shawn's face. Juliet saw his eyes pale slowly to white as he gazed at her. She would have been worried about it if Beth hadn't told her which strong emotions could trigger that reaction. Apparently she looked _really_ good tonight.

Grabbing her good hand he kissed it and bowed. "Good evening my lady. You are looking ravishing this evening." He looked up at her giving her a mischievous smile.

Juliet laughed. "As if you hadn't planned this all along."

Looking smug Shawn asked, "I don't plan things. They just come to me and I act on them. For instance, I had a nice little dream of you in a pink dress and I couldn't resist."

"Well it is a nice dress Shawn, thank you." Juliet kissed him on the lips. "Just careful with the eyes in public." She raised her eyebrows and pointed.

Sighing Shawn concentrated for a second before they turned back. "I am going to need a mirror. You have to have a guy whose eyes are the equivalent of a mood ring." He grumbled.

Juliet went in and grabbed her new clutch purse and locked her door. Taking her boyfriend's arm she walked with him to his car. She had seen it in the parking lot but she had not had a chance to go for a ride yet and knowing Shawn, it was going to be an interesting one.

After a cruise around town Shawn had decided to tie a cloth around Juliet's eyes to surprise her with the restaurant. He chose to make reservations at the Bouchon. Juliet had wanted to go there for ages and he wanted to make tonight perfect. Once they pulled up outside the restaurant he untied the blindfold and held his breath in anticipation.

When Juliet saw where they were she reached over and hugged Shawn tightly. "I love it! Thank you Shawn!"

Shawn's face was starting to hurt from smiling so much.

* * *

In the restaurant after they had taken their seats, Juliet ordered the seafood special while, Shawn ordered a steak to keep up appearances. Vampires could ingest food and drink but it was almost like eating cardboard. The taste was there still but he had no real craving or desire for it. So the steak would most likely end up in Gus' belly later on. Shawn did end up ordering some wine for them both and they sipped it while Juliet waited for her food.

"So Jules, I know I promised to tell you more about, things…" Shawn was starting to get nervous.

Juliet saw he was uncomfortable so she helped him out a bit. "You said you had a perfect memory and that is how you did what you did?"

"Yeah. My dad found out that I was able to see and remember things. He used it to his advantage and trained me to follow in his and my grandfather's footsteps. 'Become a cop.' that is all I heard growing up." Juliet could see Henry doing that to Shawn and it made her sad that such a free spirit was forced to conform. "He taught me everything I would need to be a perfect detective and I did everything he wanted. I never thought I would be anything else, never knew I had a choice." Shawn took a drink of his wine. "After our falling out my senior year of high school I took a road trip. I did everything I wanted for the first time in my life. I resented my dad so much for denying me that."

"So what made you claim to be psychic in the first place?" Juliet was wondering how he got himself in that situation the most.

Shawn shook his head. "Between the training my dad gave me and my natural observant ability, I couldn't turn it off. If I saw something I had to help so when I got back to Santa Barbara, I started calling in tips on things I saw on the TV, in newspapers and all that. Eventually one of my leads turned out to be too good and a certain detective Carlton Lassiter called me in and was going to arrest me as an accomplice to theft."

"Carlton was going to arrest you?" Juliet was a bit taken aback. "Didn't you tell him what you could do?"

Shawn chuckled, "Believe me I tried. It got to the point where Lassie said give me a reason you know this or you go to jail. I saw one of the officers was superstitious and it just popped into my head. I faked my first psychic vision and convinced them enough to let me go. I thought it was the end of it but a very pregnant Chief Vick followed me out and handed me the McCallum case and said that if I was ever proven to be not psychic I would be thrown in jail anyway."

Juliet was having a hard time believing Shawn. How could he know so much just from looking at things? "So everything you do is just from noticing what other people don't?"

Shawn nodded and looked around. He pointed to a young lady sitting a few tables away from them and asked, "What do you see."

Juliet looked at the woman. She was in her mid-twenties and was sitting with a man who looked like her father. They clinked their glasses together in a toast. "A father and daughter having dinner together. She might be celebrating something."

"Very good Jules, she is celebrating something…but it is not her father." Shawn's eyes narrowed and focused on the woman's ring finger. No ring but there is an indent on it where one should have been. He noticed her clothing, too revealing to be just having supper with her dad. Also, the way she leaned towards him and touched his hand showed she was attracted to him. "She is celebrating her recent divorce. The man she is with was the one she had been cheating on her husband with." Then he noticed the indent on the man's ring finger as well, but saw what looked like a band matching the indent on his opposite hand…"Unfortunately for her, he is still married and doesn't look like he will be leaving his wife any time soon."

Juliet tried to see how in the world he could know that. Shawn saw she was having problems figuring it out so he walked her through it. She was amazed at the level of detail he processed in such a short amount of time. "Shawn, that is absolutely amazing. Why would you ever want to downplay your real abilities for fake ones?"

Shawn shrugged. "What I can do…" Shawn gestured at his head, "...it wasn't exactly my choice. With Psych I feel like I have the freedom to use my abilities as I choose, even if it means looking like a fool every once and a while. I like what I do, it makes me happy and I help people. I never meant to hurt anyone with it. Do you get what I am saying?" Shawn looked worried. He wanted Juliet to know that he didn't want to lie to her.

Juliet nodded "I understand that Shawn, but what concerns me is how much I don't really know you. I don't know how much was an act and how much was real." Shawn opened his mouth but Juliet stopped him with a finger. "I know you love me. I have no doubts about that at all. I love you too Shawn, but I need to get to know the real you better, and get used to some things before we get back to where we were." Shawn's face fell and he nodded while looking at his lap. Juliet couldn't resist that look. She leaned forward and gave him a reassuring kiss. "This is a good start though."

The rest of their meal consisted of small talk coupled with Juliet pointing out different people and Shawn analyzing them. He kept the observations light hearted and enjoyed making her laugh. It had never been this much fun when his dad made him do it.

When the time came to pay for the check Shawn laid some cash down for the waiter and turned towards his girlfriend with a sly smile. Noticing the look Shawn was giving her, Juliet asked, "What is it Shawn?"

Shawn stood up and offered her his hand, "Dance with me Jules?"

"You know how to dance?" Juliet looked at him skeptically.

Shawn smirked, "I YouTubed 'Dancing With the Stars' and got a couple moves down." Shawn joked. Juliet laughed and grabbed his hand as he led her to an open area in the restaurant. It wasn't a dance floor exactly but no one stopped them as they slow danced to the ambiance music. Some of the restaurant staff and patrons even stopped to watch the dancing couple.

Oblivious to the stares, Shawn laid his head on Juliet's shoulder and sniffed deeply. He found her scent extremely comforting, which is why he had been reluctant to let her go at the station the day before. He couldn't describe it other than saying it smelled like Juliet. Sighing contently and making a happy hum noise, Shawn continued to move to the music.

The song ended and a few claps came from around the restaurant. Looking around sheepishly the couple gave a little wave and moved back towards their table. "Jules, when we get back to my apartment I have a few things to tell you." He wanted to be able to tell her about the cure and what it could mean, but not in such a public place.

Juliet nodded and leaned closer to him as they walked. Shawn made it two more steps before a sudden sharp and burning pain spread out in his chest and his legs gave out from underneath him. Juliet had instinctively tried to catch him but with only one arm was unable to stop him from falling to his knees with a painful sounding gasp. "Shawn!" She shouted panicking.

A few restaurant staff rushed over to help him as Juliet put an arm around his shoulders. "Are you alright sir? Do you need an ambulance?" One of the waiters asked and put a hand on his shoulder.

Lifting Shawn's head to face her, Juliet saw it and gasped. His eyes were screwed shut in pain but she could see his complexion had paled and his fangs were out. She couldn't let anyone see him like this. "No, it's ok. He just had an asthma attack." Juliet tried to sound reassuring. "He will be fine once I get him his inhaler." Whispering in Shawn's ear she continued, "We have to move!" He barely nodded and struggled to his feet. Juliet propped him up on one of the chairs and grabbed their coats before going back to him and helping him out the door.

Once they got back to the car she put Shawn in the passenger's seat and got in the driver's seat herself. Shawn had just started to try and breathe normally again but was still clutching his chest. "Shawn! What is it? Are you ok?" Juliet tried to find where he was hurt but she didn't see any outward injuries.

Shawn tried to wave her off. "It's... it's not me...Jules." Shawn gasped as the pain subsided a bit and he was able to sit up in the seat. He looked at Juliet and managed to get out, "It's Lassie. He's been staked..."


	10. Feeling the Burn

** AUTHOR'S NOTES: This chapter marks the point where I am caught up in posting this story. The updates won't be as frequent because of this though but I am trying to keep it once to twice a week.**

**A lot happens in this chapter! I hope you are ready for it.**

* * *

**Chapter 10- Feeling the Burn**

**15 Minutes earlier:**

Lance watched as the detective exited the station. He knew it would be dangerous to confront him in the parking lot of a police precinct, so it was decided they would have to wait until the detective got home. He was careful to have his associate follow a ways behind as the agents in Lance's employ mentioned they had identified his Mercedes and there was no time for him to change cars.

Eventually the Ford Fusion Carlton was driving pulled into the parking lot of a rather ominous looking apartment complex. Keeping his distance, Lance stepped out of the car and closed the door silently. His associate did the same. They had to be careful because they had no idea how strong or old this vampire was, and Lance was not one to take chances. They would have to be fast and take him down quickly, then ask questions later. Lance nodded at his associate and each sped toward the unsuspecting vampire.

* * *

Carlton exited his vehicle. He was tired and hungry, he had not had much blood today because he spent all day at the station and it was Woody's day off. He rubbed his hands over his face, trying to focus but all he could think about at that moment was what was chilling in his refrigerator. Carlton heard footsteps and turned just as two men were charging at him. It was a classic "pincer" move. Carlton had enough time to register that these two were moving too fast to be humans and he tried to remember what Mick said about vampire fighting being mostly grapple and throw.

Drawing his gun and throwing himself to the ground, Carlton was just able to avoid the first tackle before rolling onto his back. He fired four times in rapid succession, hitting the smaller of the two center mass. Unfortunately this move left Carlton prone and Lance was able to knock the gun away and pin his legs.

"Grab his arms!" Lance shouted at his companion, when that was done, he stood and pulled out a custom redwood stake with a leather grip from his coat.

Carlton tried to roll away but the other man held his arms tight. "Get your hands off! I am the head detective for the SBPD!" As Carlton kicked and struggled he was finally able to get a look at his attacker. "Aww… no!" Carlton gazed into Lance's blackened eye with instant recognition realizing Shawn was right. He was one scary guy.

"I'm sorry to have to do this detective. It is certainly not gentlemen like but desperate times…" Lance brought the stake down in a practiced ark straight at the prone Carlton's heart.

"NO!" His cry was cut short as the sharpened wood crushed through his ribcage. Carlton had been staked once before by Mick during training but it was a very small stake and was nothing compared to this. He wanted to scream, writhe in pain, do anything but lay there like a fallen log letting out a choked whimper.

Lance glared down at the detective as his ears started to register police sirens in the distance. Turning to his associate he ordered, "Let's get him to the car."

The other man tried to rise but with a gasp of pain he fell to his knees again. Lance was quickly at his side looking at his torso. There were two bullet wounds that were not healing. He growled and grabbed at Carlton's gun and ejected the clip. Every other bullet was silver.

Lance slowly turned when he heard a coughing and wheezy laugh coming from Carlton. "You are just full..." Lance kicked Carlton painfully in the side, "... of surprises." Lance began to hear sirens far off in the distance. He put the gun in his jacket before quickly picking up the fallen detective and helping his associate to his feet and to the car less than a block away. He threw open the trunk and tossed a groaning Carlton inside before hopping in the driver's seat and calmly driving away as to not arouse any more suspicion.

Lance glanced at his associate appraisingly, wondering how badly he was shot. Silver took a while to heal and he would need to feed, soon. The other vampire was little more than a man servant to him, all of his siblings had one. Cynthia was Coreline's. Scowling and tightening his hands on the steering wheel he remembered how he had not agreed with his sister's decision to give her servant so much freedom, let alone keep her own name. However, after 300 years Lance could say he had grown attached to his associate. "Carlton injuring him will not go ignored." He promised himself.

A phone started going off from inside the trunk. Lance didn't worry about it at the moment. It wasn't like the detective could reach it anyway, and he had other things on his mind as they pulled into the run down hotel where the BCA agents were staying. "Time to put the mules to work." Lance smirked.

* * *

"What do you mean you can "feel" his pain Shawn?" Juliet sped down the street back to the station. Shawn had begged her to go back to her apartment but Juliet adamantly refused and reminded him that if it was Gus in trouble he would do the same thing.

Shawn hung up his phone in frustration. Just as he thought, Carlton was not answering any of his phones. "Jules, we don't know who has him yet! It could be Lance for all we know." Shawn hid his shudder at the insane vampire's name. The pain in his chest had lessened somewhat but the burning sensation was still there, as was the gut wrenching panic he felt for Carlton. Or was it Carlton's panic? He didn't know.

As Juliet took a corner at high speeds she said, "Call the station, see if they know anything. My partner wouldn't go down without a fight and he has a lot of guns."

Trying to calm his breathing Shawn looked over at his warrior woman. "You are so hot right now Jules." Grabbing his phone he dialed dispatch.

"Santa Barbara Police Department."

"This is Shawn Spencer, I am with Detective Juliet O'Hara, we need to know if anyone knows where Detective Carlton Lassiter is or if there have been any shots fired reported between the station and his apartment." Shawn said urgently.

"There were some shots fired reported a few minutes ago in the vacinity of his apartment. We sent an officer over there a few minutes ago to check it out."

Shawn grit his teeth as both their fears were confirmed. "Shots were fired near Lassie's apartment." He told Juliet. Her foot pushed the petal harder. Shawn turned his attention back to the phone, "We will be there in two minutes. Call Chief Vick now and tell her that Detective Lassiter is missing!" Shawn hung up the phone and shoved it angrily back in his pocket. He covered his face with his hands and growled loudly in frustration and worry.

"We'll find him Shawn." Juliet tried to calm him down. "If whoever took him wanted him dead they wouldn't have just staked him right?"

Dropping his hands from his face he shouted. "It's all my fault Jules! If it is Lance that has him he will kill him as soon as he finds out he knows nothing, he can't chance anyone finding out what he is doing. The other vampires will find him and kill him for it."

Once again getting the feeling that Shawn had been keeping secrets from her, Juliet glared. "Knows nothing about _what_ Shawn...?"

"I was going to tell you after our date. It is about the cure. We found it." Juliet's eyes widened in shock as Shawn continued. "Cynthia was on the run and for some reason she came to us. She hid the cure in our couch after fleeing her mansion. Gus and I figured it out and right before Lance came to the office I found it."

"Shawn! How could you keep this from us? We are all on this case!" Juliet swerved sharply as she pulled into the station.

Shawn was practically pulling his hair out in frustration, "I was trying to protect you. If Lance found out about any of you actually knowing about the cure it would be a death sentence. I don't know how he found out about Lassie or if it even is him that has him. I just don't know and it is killing me right now Jules!"

Juliet looked deep into his hazel eyes. If he really was feeling Carlton's pain he must be in agony. Giving in for the moment she nodded. "Ok Shawn, but we will talk about this later. For now let's find my partner."

Exiting the vehicle both dashed towards the steps, Juliet having to lift her dress so she wouldn't trip on it. Shawn scooped her up as she approached the steps and set her down as they reached the top. Juliet blushed and muttered thanks as they entered the department.

Apparently word traveled fast and the other officers were bustling to find out what they all could do to help find Carlton. Juliet and Shawn got some prolonged glances due to their formal wear but the urgent situation stopped anyone from asking questions about it. "Did anyone find anything at Carlton's apartment?" Juliet asked as she approached the dispatcher.

"Four bullet casings and some blood so far but they didn't find the gun." The dispatcher replied.

Juliet nodded, "Is the chief on her way...?"

Shawn walked away from the conversation and started to pace. There had to be a way to find him and when he did, whoever took him was going to pay. Stopping and taking a deep breath, he pushed down his rage. He had to be analytical and focus. There was no way to know where Lance had taken him…unless…

Sprinting to his dad's computer Shawn logged on using the password he spied over his father's shoulder the week before and entered the cell phone tracking database. He entered Carlton's cell phone number and got an instant hit. Shawn glanced over his shoulder and made sure Juliet was still busy with the dispatcher. He memorized the address and erased his search. Jules would kill him for this but he was just trying to protect her. He set his cell phone on the desk and before anyone could stop him he rushed out the door. Hopefully by the time everyone else thought to track Carlton's phone he would already have him back.

* * *

When Lance entered the hotel room both agents shot to their feet in alarm. Lance was carrying Carlton and his associate was bleeding and barely making it in the door. "What the hell?" Nathan exclaimed.

Lance kept his cool despite the panic. "I told you I would be back. Now come with me. I need you to do something for me." He roughly dropped Carlton on the floor. "There is a package in my car. I need you to take it to the station and await further instruction."

Carlton tried to struggle but to no avail. "What are they taking to the station!?" He thought frantically. He caught one of the agent's eyes and glared. "You..." They had to be the reason Lance had found him out.

"Whoa wait a minute." Gerald protested. "You just told us we were getting information for you. We are agents, not package boys."

Lance shrugged and pointed at his associate who was currently eyeing the agents. "If you want to stay here with him that is just fine... but he is hungry." Both Nathan and Gerald were out the door following Lance instantly.

Carlton's piercing eyes followed the departing men then landed on Lance's associate who had sat down and started to dig the silver bullets out of himself. "You...have to...let me go." It was hard for him to breathe but since the wound had time to heal around the stake it was a bit easier to talk. The man just glared at him as he continued to try and reason with him. "You don't...*Cough* Ow... you don't have to go down...with him." Getting no reply from him, Carlton decided to save his strength.

Carlton's phone started to ring again. It was the second time so it most likely meant that someone had figured out he was missing. "Probably Spencer." Carlton mused to himself. The psychic had a habit of  
showing up where he was unwanted, but most needed. The ringing caused the associate to look up but he ignored it otherwise.

Lance came back five minutes later. He completely ignored Carlton and focused on his associate. "You may go get something to eat. Come back when you are finished." The man nodded and whispered something in Lance's ear before quickly disappearing out the door.

Carlton knew exactly what Lance meant by "something to eat." He growled out a fierce, "No..."

Lance walked over and knelt down next to him and raised an eyebrow. "Well, it is your fault now isn't it detective."

Lance reached into Carlton's pocket and grabbed his cell phone. "That is what got whispered in his ear." Carlton reasoned.

"Curious things aren't they." Lance waved the phone at him and stuck it in his pocket. "People just don't know how to live without these anymore. Now, let's get a better look at you." Lanced lifted him up and put him in a sitting position in one of the chairs. Carlton winced from the movement. Lance pulled up a chair in front of him and folded his hands. "I hear you were interested in my work. I must admit murder is a messy business but one does what one has to...but I digress. The humans were saying you were interested in a specific fire... of one Aaron Lonsdale."

Carlton's eyes narrowed and he growled. "I'm going to get those two when I get out of this." He promised.

"So, why would you be interested in this case specifically?" Lance leaned forward, genuinely curious.

"Go to hell." Carlton spat out before wracking coughs stopped him. He tasted blood in his mouth and he was starting to feel weaker.

Lance smiled, "I'm sure you will get there before me detective." Cocking his head and getting an idea, Lance sniffed Carlton's scent deeply. "Almost no smell of decay..." Carlton remembered what he was taught about a vampire's age. The older they are, the smellier they get apparently, so Lance must be trying to determine how long he had been a vampire. "Oh my...you are just a baby aren't you? Couldn't be more than a month turned."

The detective was less than pleased with the analogy and managed to shift his head a little bit to properly glare at Lance. "I am going... to get you for what... what you've done."

"Oh, this is personal for you." Lance's brow creased in confusion, once again he closed his eyes and sniffed Carlton. "That is impossible." Lance's eyes came open and he was out of his chair and in Carlton's face. "I killed Aaron's entire clan a month ago... how do you even exist?"

"I have to keep him talking." Carlton thought desperately. If he killed Aaron's entire family it must have been for a reason and now that he knew it was only a matter of time before he killed him. His only hope was that someone heard the gunshots and found he was missing, otherwise no one would know he was missing till at least morning. Trying to clear his throat of the blood Carlton said weakly, "Escaped...fire. Killed people..." It was becoming more difficult to talk. He was getting so thirsty.

Laughing darkly Lance pushed away from Carlton and started to pace the room. "Well, I knew his line were like cockroaches. He moves fast." Glancing at Carlton as he paced he asked, "How many are there? Aaron was never one to be alone."

"All killed... over a week ago...Aaron was crazy...got...executed."

Nodding Lance reasoned, "Crazy, now that would make sense. You see each line has a gift, not all vampires in the line get it though. No one knows why..."

Carlton tried to keep his face stoic but wanted to scream in triumph. He had the man monologuing. "This is what Spencer must feel like." He thought then remembered that bad guys only monologue to people they are about to kill. Carlton's good mood vanished.

Lance was not finished though, "Aaron's line was one of the most powerful, but worst at the same time. I tried to be merciful by killing them at once." Smiling evilly Lance glanced in Carlton's direction. Carlton tried not to stare at his grotesque eye. "Aaron had to have told you all this, crazy or not we have our laws."

"Never met...him. I was... an...*cough* accident."

"An accident? Well, he is lucky he is dead now anyway. If he wasn't..." Lance walked up and twisted the stake causing Carlton to gasp and let out a silent scream. "He would be going absolutely dare I say, batty to try to get to you." He chuckled at his own joke. "Sires in your line can feel what their fledglings are going through. It wouldn't be a very pleasant experience at this point now would it? But with you, at least I don't have to worry about a sire knocking my door down."

It wasn't a moment after that statement that the door burst inwards. "Guess again Jack!" A voice from the doorway bellowed.

* * *

**Five Minutes Earlier:**

Shawn pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and immediately noticed a familiar looking black Mercedes. "Son of a bitch." He leaned back in his car and took calming breaths. Lance did have him and he was on his own. Searching his vehicle for anything he could use, he remembered his baseball gear was in the trunk. Hopping out of the car and opening the trunk he dug past the gear and grabbed out his wooden bat. He snapped six inches off above the grip and ended up with a rather nice makeshift stake.

Shawn sneaked in the front door and didn't notice anyone waiting in the lobby. Sniffing he smelled a human nearby but also another vampire. Walking quietly towards the back room Shawn almost gasped at the sight of Lance's partner feeding off of what could only be the front desk manager of the hotel. Shawn positioned himself behind the man who was more into his meal than listening for anyone coming up on him and poked the stake at his back. "Get off him. _Now."_

Finally realizing there was someone there Lance's associate let go and raised his hands. "Stand up." The man stood and Shawn looked down at the manager. He could tell by the lack of heartbeat that he had gotten there too late to save him. Cursing his luck he poked the stake harder into the other vampire's back and grabbed him around the throat. "One wrong move and I will kill you. Understand?" The man nodded. "Now take me to Lance." They began a slow march up the stairs and to one of the rooms.

Shawn could hear Lance speaking to Carlton, "An accident? Well, he is lucky he is dead now anyway. If he wasn't..." A sudden pain pierced through Shawn and he had to stop himself from dropping the stake and clutching his own chest in pain.

As he clenched his teeth he could feel his teeth growing. "That bastard is toying with him." He thought through the painful haze.

He could hear Lance continue talking through the door. "But with you, at least I don't have to worry about a sire knocking my door down."

If that wasn't the best entrance line in history Shawn didn't know what would be. He wouldn't be able to open the door and still keep a grip on his hostage so he turned to the side and kicked the door with everything he had. It busted inwards and revealed a very surprised Lance. "Guess again Jack!" Shawn shouted and brought the hostage in front of him as a shield.

"The psychic?" Lance couldn't believe what he was seeing. The psychic he had accosted yesterday, the man he had let go, had his associate hostage with a stake behind his back. He was also a vampire. "Impossible! How could I not smell you at your office?"

"That is for me to know and for you to find out." He nodded towards Carlton who was propped up in a chair staring at him with a look of shocked amazement. "Let him go or I take out your guy."

Lance sniffed in Shawn's direction and gave him a suspicious look before giving a wide smile. Reaching over to Carlton he grabbed the stake. Just when Shawn thought that his plan was working, Lance pushed the stake in farther and twisted rather than pulling it out. Shawn's vision blurred and he dropped to the ground with a shout of agony, letting go of both Lance's associate and the stake.

"I thought as much." Lance casually walked up and grabbed Shawn by the throat before he could recover. Reaching out his hand his associate put the makeshift stake in his hand. Shawn struggled and tried to push the stake away but it only made Lance push it into his chest that much slower, and more painfully.

Carlton could not watch and had to turn away thinking, "Damn it Spencer! You idiot!"

Shawn felt his body go rigid and felt like a complete failure knowing that no one else knew where they were to come and help them. Fortunately since no one else was coming, no one else would be hurt, especially Juliet or Gus.

Lance placed him on the floor and looked down at his still form. "I figured the detective was lying but I never thought it would be you."

Carlton was beginning to recover enough to speak again but it was more labored. _"Thought…what…would be…him?"_

Shawn's eyes widened in fear. He didn't want Carlton finding out about him being his sire. Least of all find out like this. The only thing he could do was make protesting choking noises. "Oh this is too precious to break up. He really doesn't know does he?" Lance looked like he was about to continue talking but his associate interrupted him by tapping at his watch. "Oh yes." Lance took out Carlton's phone from his pocket and started to text on it. Shawn's eyes followed every movement of his fingers.

A minute later Lance put the phone back in his pocket and turned to look at Shawn. "As interesting as this is, it will have to wait." He pointed at Shawn. "You and I have a lot to discuss about a certain woman but right now my associate and I are going to go watch some fireworks." Winking with is black eye, the two men walked out of the hotel room.

His associate turned towards him and asked, "Is it safe to leave them there. How do you know he didn't tell anyone where he was going?"

Smiling Lance replied, "Because they would have been here already. Don't ask so many questions." Nodding his associate kept silent as they headed to Lance's Mercedes.

* * *

Waiting until he was sure they were gone, Shawn struggled to see if he could move any part of his body. Carlton on the other hand could barely even talk. _"Spencer…what was…he talking about."_

Shawn ignored the question and continued to struggle to move his arm. If he followed Lance's fingers from the text right, they didn't have much time. Closing his eyes he pictured Carlton's phone. It wasn't a smart phone so Lance had to tap different keys multiple times in order to text out a message. Reciting to himself he said, "6, two 3s, two 3s, 8, 2, 8, four 7s, 8, 2, 8, three 4s, three 6, two 6, four 8, 7, 6, two 8, three 7, 4, two 3, two 6, 8." Putting the message together he came up with, "MEET ME AT STATION 8PM URGENT."

"_Spencer…can you hear…me." _Carlton saw Shawn had closed his eyes and was afraid he had passed out until his eyes popped open and he looked directly at him.

Shawn tried to speak but was unable. Thinking fast he moved his pointer finger to tap on the ground. He hoped Carlton knew Morse Code. He tapped out. "Lance texted meet at station. Why?"

Knowing Morse Code very well Carlton got the gist of what Shawn was doing right away. He was just surprised that the psychic knew it so well. "_BCA Agents…working with Lance. Took something… to station. Were waiting…for his reply."_

"Why use your phone?" He tapped out. Lance had his own phone. He knew this because Lance had given him his number after questioning him. Why would he use Carlton's and tell them to meet at the station if they were already going there.

Carlton growled, "_I don't know. Easier."_

Shawn tried to work everything out but there were too many questions. Why would Lance leave them there? What did the men take to the station? Why did Lance mention…Fireworks? Shawn's eyes registered understanding. He tapped out one word that chilled Carlton to the bone.

"BOMB."

* * *

"I'm going to kill Shawn!" Gus grumbled as he entered the station. Juliet had called him and told him about Shawn running off to find Carlton alone. By the time he got there, Juliet was talking to Karen about what they were going to do.

"Mr. Spencer didn't leave anything stating where he was going?" Karen asked.

Juliet shook her head. She was incredibly hurt and angry with her boyfriend.

Karen didn't like it. Usually the psychic left something to go on. "Why would he not leave anything for us if he knew where Detective Lassiter was?"

Walking up to the women, Gus answered, "Maybe he was trying to protect you. You know how Shawn can be."

Juliet gave Gus a warning look as Karen asked, "Protect her from what Mr. Guster?" Before Gus could come up with a good enough cover story, all three of their cell phones went off.

"It's from Carlton!" Juliet exclaimed.

"Mine too." Gus showed Karen and Juliet. Karen's was from him as well. They all said the same thing. "MEET ME AT STATION 8PM URGENT."

Checking her watch Juliet stated, "It is 7:45pm now. Shawn had to have found them and they are on their way back."

Karen's phone went off and she saw it was Buzz McNab. "Chief Karen Vick." She answered. "Ok, yes we got the same message. Yes I would come in." Karen hung up the phone and addressed the two confused detectives. "McNab got the same message. I am guessing he sent it to everyone. It must be really important so I am going to get everyone together for a meeting. Try calling Carlton back and see if you can get any more information out of him."

As Juliet was dialing she saw the two BCA agents climbing the stairs from the basement area. They had gotten there ten minutes before claiming they forgot something in the records room. "Agents, did you find what you were looking for?" Nathan and Gerald looked at each other and nodded. Both were sweating slightly but Juliet attributed it to being rather hot in the records room.

"We will be in touch." Gerald said simply as the pair walked briskly to the exit.

Thinking that was rather abrupt, Gus watched the two leave. "Do you get the feeling that something is up with those two?" He looked at Juliet but she was too busy trying to dial Carlton's phone. Shaking his head he sat down on a bench near Juliet's desk wondering if his best friend was ok.

* * *

Carlton tried to move but to no avail. _"Sweet justice…we have to…get out of here."_ Shawn had started to try and slowly move his arm up his body to grasp the stake. He was nearly there before his hand fell down again. "_Didn't you…do this…before?"_ Carlton asked.

Shawn resisted the urge to try and scream. He hadn't told Carlton that it had taken a half an hour to do it last time and last time it wasn't the end of a baseball bat. He didn't even technically pull it out. He had just pulled on it and let his healing push it out like a sliver. A giant sliver sticking out of his heart. Trying once more Shawn managed to get his hand around the shaft of the bat. He started to pull. It was agonizingly slow and painful but he was pulling as hard as he could. Since the stake was so big, it seemed that Lance did not shove it in all that far so it only took him a few minutes for it to leave his heart. Once it was out of there Shawn could move a bit better. He managed to get both hands on the stake and with one last pull the bat came out of his chest.

Carlton watched in shocked horror as Shawn rolled over and started hacking up large amounts of blood as his pierced lung healed. It was not a pretty sight and Carlton was sure if Gus was here he would have fainted for sure.

Once he managed to get to his knees. Shawn crawled over to Carlton and grabbed the stake in his chest. In a wheezy voice he asked, "You ready?"

"_Yes."_ Carlton braced himself. With a yell and a hard yank Shawn pulled the stake out of him and fell back with a shout of pain as Carlton, able to move again, clutched his chest with a gasp. Once his vision cleared he looked down at Shawn who was rolling off his back and breathing heavily. "Spencer. What the hell just happened?"

Shawn groaned and got wobbly to his feet. Steading himself on the chair he deflected the question, "We don't have time to talk right now. We have to get to the station and warn everyone." Looking at his watch he realized they had only about ten minutes left. He grabbed Carlton out of the chair and they each leaned on each other as they hurried out to Shawn's car.

Carlton flopped almost bonelessly into the passenger seat. He needed to feed badly and he knew it. So did Shawn. He looked at the whites of Carlton's eyes and saw they were turning yellow. That was not a good sign. Shawn had lived through that himself and Aaron had told him it was a type of vampire dehydration. "Hold on Lassie. If we get to the bomb on time I am sure Woody will have something there for you." Shawn put the car into high gear and his tires spun as he sped out of the parking lot to the station.

Not letting the subject from before drop, and wanting to keep his mind on something else besides the hunger and pain, Carlton looked at Shawn, "Lance said something about Aaron. About our line's gift. Is there anything you want to say Spencer?" Carlton almost didn't want to hear his answer.

"There are a lot of things I want to say Lassie." Shawn grumbled as he swerved in and out of traffic. "I want to say how pissed off I am that I won't get to wear this awesome tux again because someone rammed a stake through it. I want to say I am even more pissed off that I had to cut my date with Juliet short because of a deranged vampire. But I don't want to say what you want me to say so lay off Lassie!"

Carlton groaned at the other man's stubbornness but before he knew it they were at the station. Shawn didn't even wait up for him. He ran as fast as he could up the stairs and to the bull pen. He stopped in shock with Carlton coming to a halt right behind him with a curse. "Spencer what…" Then he noticed it too. There had to be at least 30 officers standing around the area with Karen addressing them about how Carlton had wanted to meet them all there at 8pm. "Oh no. No no no no no!" Carlton cursed. All heads turned towards them and gasps could be heard from the crowd.

Shawn figured they must look horrible. Both of their clothes were bloody and Carlton was struggling to stand. "Detectives!" Karen started walking over to address them when Shawn glanced at the clock. 7:57pm.

Shawn rushed to her. "Chief! You have to get everyone out of here now! There is a bomb in the building set to go off at 8pm! The text was to get everyone here when it went off!"

Karen glanced at the time and went instantly into authority mode. "Everyone drop whatever you are doing and get out of the building now! This is not a drill there is a bomb in the building!"

Henry emerged from the crowd "Dad, it's Lance. There is no chance of this being a false alarm." Henry nodded and turned towards Gus who was just standing there frozen in panic, "Gus! Help me get these people out!" Glancing at Shawn who nodded at him to go ahead, Gus started to yell for people to get out.

While Karen and Gus sounded the alarm Shawn and Carlton found Juliet who gasped at the red stain on Shawn's tuxedo. "Jules! Did you see the BCA agents? They had the bomb and we need to know where they put it."

Stuttering Juliet answered, "They… they were in the records room. They came up about fifteen minutes ago saying their work was done…" Shawn sped off, pushing through the crowd of fleeing officers to get to the basement.

He was in the records room in moments but did not see anything right away. He stopped and sniffed deeply. A vision of the two agents flooded his mind. They were definitely scared and angry when they were here. Opening his eyes he tried a different approach. Ignoring the screams and shouts of bomb from above he focused in on the almost imperceptible beeps of the bomb's timer. He opened a file drawer and found a duffel bag. He opened it and the timer was now down to 1 minute and 30 seconds. He froze, wondering if he could grab it and move it somewhere before it went off.

Hearing a noise behind him Shawn looked up to see Carlton and Juliet running into the room. They saw him crouched by the files. Shawn turned towards them and shook his head. "We only have a minute left. Get her out of here."

Both started to protest. Juliet protested leaving him here, while Carlton started to get angry that he was going to try to play the hero. In one last desperate move to get them both out of harm's way, Shawn's eyes turned white, his fangs grew and he hissed at Carlton loudly. Carlton cringed away from Shawn's anger instinctively. "Get her out of here NOW Carlton!"

If Carlton had any doubts about who his sire was, they were gone the instant Shawn yelled that command. Without thinking, Carlton grabbed Juliet around the waist and sped back up the stairs and out the door as fast as he could.

Trying not to think what the consequences of his actions would be later, Shawn's face changed back to normal as he started to pull the bag out of the drawer. "If I run in a different direction, or throw it… maybe there will be a chance." Another noise behind him made him made him growl in frustration. 30 seconds were left on the clock. "Carlton I thought I told you…" turning around Shawn's jaw dropped.

Karen stood in the doorway. She had heard that Shawn was still down here and didn't want to leave a man behind. "Mr. Spencer what are you doing?!"

Realizing he couldn't grab the bomb and save Karen, Shawn made a choice. The Chief was going to be a mom again, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't get her out. Dropping his hands from the bag Shawn charged at Karen, with vampiric speed. She saw his eyes go white as he charged up to her and grabbed her fireman style and ran for the back door next to the garages. All the while mentally counting down the last seconds before the bomb went off.

At three seconds he cleared the building and started trying to get as far as he could away from the blast radius. He counted down… "Two… one…" and dove to the ground covering Karen's body with his. The initial blast was not as large as he thought it was going to be, but then the hydrogen from the Titanium Hydroxide caught and a secondary explosion with a flash of heat seared across Shawn's back. Both he and Karen screamed as the concussive blast hit them and rolled them forward. Pieces of building started falling around them and once again Shawn had to cover Karen from getting hit with any debris. Luckily nothing bigger than a baseball hit Shawn's back.

After a moment the larger pieces of the building had stopped falling and they both sat up. Shawn was looking at the ruins of the SBPD but Karen was looking at Shawn's face. His white eyes caught the firelight with a reflective glow and she could see fangs protruding as he stared open mouthed at the conflagration that was once her precinct.

Shawn finally looked to his side and saw Karen watching him. Flicking his tongue he realized why she was staring and starting to shake in fear. The stress of the moment had caused him to vamp out. He got to his feet and reached a hand down to help Karen up.

She tentatively took it then backed up from him once she was upright. "Mr. Spencer…" she started to say before Shawn's head snapped to look at the front of the building.

"Lassie… Jules…." Shawn gasped and he ran away from the chief into the bedlam of screams and smoke.


	11. Explosive Consequences

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Nothing too graphic in this chapter. I am trying to keep this in the spirit of the series so no overt brain matter or anything you need to worry about :D As always, hope it entertains and thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

**Chapter 11- Explosive Consequences**

"Mr. Spencer!" Shawn heard Karen shout but he was not stopping until he knew if his friends were alright. As he was running towards the front of the building, he had to duck as a series of smaller explosions erupted from the burning police station and sent more debris flying through the air. Screams of terror and pain accompanied them.

"Oh God this is not good." Shawn picked up the pace.

As he got around to the front of the building he was desperately trying to see through the smoke. Between the haze and his constant coughing it was hard to focus. From where he rounded the corner he could barely make out at least a dozen injured people. Towards the parking lot one of the receptionists was giving CPR to someone he recognized from the narcotics division. A few feet away one of the deputies staunched the bleeding of what Shawn figured was just someone walking by when the place went up, but he could see no sign of his friends or his dad. "JULES! GUS!" Shawn shouted, his voice hoarse from coughing. This was definitely one time his super senses were a hindrance. He closed his eyes and tried to rub the sting from them.

"Shawn!" Gus' voice rang out through the chaos like a beacon. Opening his eyes Shawn rushed to his friend.

"GUS!" Shawn exclaimed as he approached. He noticed some blood on the side of Gus' face and some on his hands but otherwise looked ok. He was about to give his friend a hug when he caught the scent of his blood. He had not fed since before his date with Juliet, and being staked by a baseball handle caused him to need to feed badly.

He had been fine until he got that sniff. Almost like it was when he was human. He wasn't hungry until he smelled food. Unfortunately for Gus, right now he smelled like food. Shawn didn't think it would be a good idea to be too close to his best bud at that moment.

Stepping back, Shawn held out his hands to stop Gus from approaching. A hurt look crossed his features before Shawn pointed at the blood. Eyes widening in understanding and horror Gus frantically tried to wipe off his hands on his pants, further rubbing the scent of blood on him. "Dude! That is so not helping!" Shawn exclaimed and turned his head away before being grabbed from behind.

Whirling around Shawn came face to face with Henry who gave him a hug. "Oh my God Shawn. You're ok! I was worried when you didn't come out the front doors." Letting his son go he saw his face was still vampiric. "Shawn, your face…"

Coughing again Shawn choked out, "I know… I can't help it right now." Doing his best to compose himself he asked, "Have you seen Jules or Lassie? I felt him freak out a minute ago." Taking a deep breath Shawn stated, "Lassie hasn't fed dad."

Understanding crossed Henry's features and he started frantically looking around the crowd. He felt Shawn's hands tighten around his arms. "…and neither have I." Shawn warned his father. "There's so much blood, I can't…" Shawn growled in frustration.

Henry quickly let go of Shawn and moved a safe distance back and finally got a look at the gaping hole in Shawn's shirt showing that he had been staked at some point. As much as he wanted to comfort his son right now he knew the danger of being around him when he got like this. Shawn had taught him that lesson the day before. "Son, we will find them don't worry, but we need to get you out of…" Before he could finish, a soot covered and scratched up Buzz limped up to them.

"Mr. Spencer!" Gus and Henry moved to block Shawn from the taller man's view, buying him time to get himself together.

"What is it McNab?" Henry asked gruffly.

"No one has been able to find the Chief since she ran back in after Shawn."

Shawn moved around front of Henry and Gus to address Buzz. He had taken a moment to calm down and was back to normal. "She's fine Buzz. I went all Kurt Russell from _Backdraft_ on her and carried her out. She is back by the garages."

Buzz was instantly relieved. "Oh thank goodness. We were all worried." He moved to head to the back of the station when Shawn stopped him.

"Have you seen Jules or Lassie? Did they make it out ok?"

Nodding Buzz pointed past the hedges that separated the station lawn from the sidewalk. "Last I saw they had gotten out and were over there."

The words were barely out of Buzz's mouth before Shawn sprinted towards where he was pointing. He tried not to look at the devastation around him. He didn't want to remember this forever. He didn't want to picture people he knew injured or dying. He could hear sirens approaching. Police and ambulances. "The Sherriff's office must be sending people over too." Shawn reasoned.

Getting to the spot where Buzz had pointed, Shawn turned in circles trying to catch a glimpse of Juliet. "Jules!" Shawn yelled a couple times more before he spotted her leaning propped up next to a light pole near the sidewalk. She was cradling her already injured arm close to her chest. She had no visible open wounds so Shawn figured it was safe to go to her. Gus and Henry were right behind him.

As he approached he noticed her head was hanging down. She barely registered his presence when he kneeled next to her. Cupping her chin in his hands he lifted her face to meet his. "Jules, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open and took a moment to focus. "Shawn?" She slurred her words. Taking his hands away from her face he prodded her head gently looking for injuries. She hissed in pain when he touched the back of it and his hand came back bloody.

"Dad…" He started whipping his hand frantically on the grass and backed up as Henry stepped forward to assess Juliet better. He clenched his teeth and took deep breaths through his mouth.

"Juliet, where is Lassiter?" Gus asked for Shawn who was currently closing his eyes and trying not to freak out.

Looking up at Gus in a daze Juliet tried to register what he said. "Carlton?" Henry and Gus nodded. Turning her gaze to Shawn she saw how pale he was. "What's wrong with Shawn?"

Henry got into her field of vision. "Juliet, I need you to focus. Where is Lassiter?"

"I remember him grabbing me. The building went up…the blast knocked us down… my head hurts." Juliet's head started to fall forward again and Henry worked on keeping her awake.

Ambulances were starting to pull into the station parking lot. "I'll grab a paramedic!" Gus sprinted off to the arriving vehicles.

Shawn fell to his knees and opened his eyes. Nothing was helping he was so hungry and the horrible thing was… Carlton would be even worse than he was.

Henry saw Shawn go down and growled in frustration. "Shawn! I need you to focus! Are you getting anything from Lassiter?"

"No. I don't feel anything."

"Then you aren't trying hard enough!" Henry shouted. "Concentrate Shawn! He is your responsibility!" Henry knew he was being hard on his son but if his son didn't focus on something soon, Henry had a feeling there would be two starving vampires running around the area instead of just one.

"Dammit! Fine!" Shawn shouted back. Putting his fingers to his temple and squeezing his eyes shut, Shawn tried to get a bead on Carlton. He had never really _tried_ this yet. Before it just happened so he was a bit unsure what he had to do. It was like grasping at air. He could feel something in the back of his mind. He just had to get the connection. Suddenly Shawn flinched as extra emotions flooded him. "Anger, hurt, rage…" Shawn said aloud. "…hunger." Shawn growled out the last word.

Henry rubbed his face and sighed. "This is not good."

Shawn's eyes popped open and he glared. "Really? Ya think?" He snapped sarcastically as he got to his feet and started to pace.

"Can you figure out where he is?" Henry asked.

Shawn started to shake his head but he paused. Anger. Carlton was more pissed off than he had ever been in his life. Shawn knew Carlton enough to know that until Marlowe came into his life, his apartment was just somewhere to sleep. The station was his home. Someone had just destroyed Carlton's home, and those some ones were about to get a nasty surprise. "I don't have to figure it out. I know exactly what he is planning to do."

"How do you know?" Henry's face was scrunched in confusion.

Shawn ran a hand through his hair. "Because it is what I would do." Shawn looked over and saw Gus approaching with a paramedic. He turned back to Henry and choked out. "Dad, take care of Jules. I'll find you soon." Taking off towards the Psych mobile Shawn prayed that Carlton was on foot. If he wasn't it was already too late.

* * *

Lance was puzzled, and he didn't get puzzled often. Everything had started off going according to plan. The agents had put the bomb in the file room to erase all traces of the investigation, any officer who could have had knowledge of the case was inside about to be taken care of. He had thought nothing could go wrong as he sat and waited for the explosion. However, three minutes before the bomb was supposed to go off he saw two figures jump out of that obnoxious green car and race up the steps into the station.

"No!" Lance had shouted. "That is impossible!" He was about to go in himself when his associate grabbed his arm.

"There is no time." Forcefully shrugging of the other man's grip he had chastised himself for over reacting, but that damn psychic was fast becoming a worse pain in the ass by the minute.

People started running out of the station a moment later. Lance had not seen either of the other vampires come out as the back of the building went up in the original explosion. Suddenly, before the larger secondary explosion, the detective almost flew out of the doors with a long leap from the steps of the station, past the precinct sign with a woman wrapped in his arms. Lance watched as they landed badly and tumbled a bit before coming to a stop next to some hedges.

"Well, that was a bit impressive." Lance admitted and his associate nodded. Realizing the psychic had not come out before the explosion caused him to smile a bit. Noticing the detective was getting up and checking the condition of the woman. He moved her over to a pole and propped her up before standing for a few moments looking at the station, his hands clenched in fists at his sides. A few more explosions wracked the building, apparently spurring the detective into action. He took one more look at the woman and took off down the street.

"We should go sir." His associate pointed to the vehicle. "More officers will be coming."

Lance did not move though. His curiosity was captured by the woman that had meant so much to the detective. He was debating going and grabbing her when the impossible happened again. The psychic emerged from the crowd and knelt by her side.

The two vampires watched in a rage as the psychic backed off quickly and allowed another man to continue the woman's care. A minute later he had fallen to his knees. "He's starving." Lance came to the conclusion quickly. He recognized the signs. "That means the detective is starving too."

"Why is that important?" His associate asked.

Smiling, the taller vampire explained. "It means the detective is on a hunt, and I think I know who he is going after." Lance figured it wouldn't be long before the detective's sire figured that out too. Sure enough, the psychic got to his feet and sprinted to his car a moment later.

They both watched the car speed off in the direction of the hotel. "Should we go after them?"

"No." Lance said simply. "I have a feeling they are about to take care of a few loose ends for us. Besides," He turned to look at the woman that both men had fawned over. She was starting to get loaded into an ambulance. "…we know where they will eventually end up. Don't we?"

* * *

At the hotel, both agents were frantically packing up the meager belongings they had brought with them for their trip.

"Hurry your ass up!" Gerald shouted at Nathan who just glared back at the older man. Both of them were on edge. They had done what Lance had asked them to do. He had told them the bomb would take care of all the evidence in the files, but neither had realized that the bomb was enough to blow up the whole station. If Gerald had known that fact he never would have agreed to it.

Nathan stuffed the last of his clothes in his bag and they headed for the door. When they had gotten back they had noticed it was off its hinges and barely hanging there. By the second bloodstain on the carpet, they figured something must have gone down after they left. Since no one was there to stop them though, they had decided to escape while they had a head start.

They had barely made it to the door when suddenly a very ragged figure was blocking the way. As the figured stepped into the light of the room the agents saw it was Detective Carlton Lassiter. His hair and clothes were a bloody soot covered mess. His eyes had an unnatural yellow hue to them and he was glaring at them murderously.

Carlton staggered into the room, causing Gerald and Nathan to drop their bags and back up quickly. "I told you, I would get you." Carlton growled, advancing on the two men.

Gerald moved forward to try and run past him but Carlton placed a well-aimed punch to his jaw and sent him flying onto the bed, knocked out cold. Nathan gaped in horror but continued to back up until he hit the opposite wall. There was nowhere for him to go. Carlton grabbed the younger man by his suit. Breathing heavily he smelled the man's terror. He didn't know if it was because of his anger or his hunger but the agent's fear made him smell that much better.

"Don't do this man! We didn't know it would blow up the whole station!" Nathan begged.

Carlton was beyond listening. This man and his partner were responsible for the injury and deaths of people he had worked with for over 16 years. His fangs grew and he moved in to bite the agent.

"LASSIE NO!" The shout caused Carlton to turn his head. Shawn was standing in the ruined doorway. He looked just as bad as Carlton. His normally perfect hair had singe marks and he was holding himself upright with the frame. "Don't do it! You are a cop! An officer of the law! Don't go all Harvey Keitel in _Cop Land_ on me…because that would make me Sylvester Stallone and have you seen him lately?" Carlton knew Shawn was trying to distract him.

"Get the hell out of here Spencer! You are the last person in the world that I want to see right now…" Still gripping the agent, Carlton turned to face his sire. "You lied to me! All of you! Why should I trust any of you again?!" With that statement Carlton launched himself at Shawn.

Shawn put his hands up in defense but he really wasn't expecting that reaction from Carlton. Both men went down in a tangle and Carlton took advantage of the surprise by punching Shawn in the face. "Why don't you just _order_ me to stop Spencer? We both know you can!" Carlton continued to punch Shawn wherever he could reach.

Shawn grabbed Carlton's hands and tried to stop the punches. He knew Carlton wasn't himself. It was the hunger that was making him act that way. He could force him to stop, that much was true but Shawn didn't want to take advantage of that again. Carlton may be a pain but he was a colleague and, heaven forbid Shawn ever say this aloud… he was a friend too.

Both vampires were at the point of collapse and this fight was taking a lot out of them. Shawn decided to end it quickly by kicking upwards, catching Carlton off guard and flipping him over his head which caused him to land on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

Carlton's manic energy completely dissipated as he lay groaning. "That was a cheap shot."

Panting and sitting up Shawn scooted over to Carlton. "If I hadn't turned you, you would be dead."

The detective lay there and stared at the ceiling. "Why did you guys lie to me?" It wasn't so much that Shawn had lied to him, Shawn always lied, but once again Juliet had kept secrets from him. It had hurt when she never told him she was dating Shawn and the deception had almost broken up their partnership.

A look of disgust came over Shawn's features. "Because you would be more accepting that a murdering psycho vampire turned you than if I had. I knew you would rather have the man who locked cuffed me to a freezer and tried to get me to kill an innocent woman be your sire than ME, someone who worked next to you for over six years solving crimes and saving lives."

Carlton sat up painfully and looked Shawn in the eyes. Usually unreadable, for the first time Carlton looked past the snarky psychic and saw the sensitive intelligence Shawn tried so desperately to hide from everyone around him. He admitted it to himself that what Shawn said was true. He had been more accepting that a murderer was his sire than he was now that he knew the truth. He honestly felt ashamed of himself.

A loud click noise of a firearm cocking snapped both of their attentions to Nathan, who had grabbed his gun from his suitcase and was now pointing it at the vampires. "Stay back freaks! I will kill you both if you don't stay back!" His hand was shaking but he was pointing it right at Carlton's head.

Shawn didn't know what would happen if they were shot in the head, and he didn't want to find out. "Look man…" He stood and groaned with the effort. "Just put the gun down."

"Shut up! Maybe I should just kill you huh? I could say you were the ones to blow up the station, then you came and attacked my partner and I." It was a ridiculous statement but Nathan was too freaked out to think clearly or he would not have said the next thing that came out of his mouth. "Maybe after you guys are dust I could comfort your grieving girlfriend. I bet with that ass she is excellent in bed. If she wasn't blown up that is."

Carlton sat up. His eyes widening as he looked at Shawn's back. The psychic had gone completely still. A resonating growl almost shook the room. His fist moved so fast Nathan didn't have time to blink before he was thrown back with the force of the punch. He hit the wall and left a deep imprint before sliding down to the floor unconscious.

Once the agent was taken care of, Shawn looked back at Carlton. He was very sick and if he didn't get blood soon he wasn't going to make it. Neither of them were. Glancing at the prone agents Shawn remembered something that Josef had said to him the week before.

_"Eventually, you will have to feed on a human to survive. It doesn't mean you have to kill them, but the trick is to not let yourself get to the point where you are out of control."_

Doing his best to be at least semi-ok with what he had to do, Shawn bent down and helped Carlton get to his feet then to the bed. He grabbed Gerald's arm and brought it towards Carlton who looked up at Shawn in shock. "What are you doing Spencer?"

"We need blood and we can't risk leaving here without it. Josef said we don't have to kill, just take enough so we don't go crazy. Afterwards we can feel like assholes, but right now we don't have much of a choice."

Carlton glanced at the arm, he could see the veins pulsing with each heartbeat. A thought hit him before he had lost his nerve. "Wait, wouldn't it be a little suspicious that they have bite marks on their arms?"

Shawn raised a finger and grew out a claw. "What the?" Carlton exclaimed as Shawn brought it across the man's wrist and blood started to flow. It was something that Aaron had done to the woman he wanted Shawn to kill. Shawn had not thought about it till just now as he remembered how Aaron had cut the woman's neck. Shawn had to admit it was a sweet trick.

Carlton's reaction was instinctual and instant. He latched onto the arm and started feeding, not even caring that Shawn was watching.

Controlling his own bloodlust Shawn limped to the unconscious Nathan and did the same while keeping an eye on Carlton so he didn't take too much. They would have to call the Chief when they were done and say they had caught the guys. Shawn doubted the agents would really say anything and they had just blown up a police station full of cops so who would listen to them anyway. "Besides," Shawn thought with no little amount of mirth, as he let go of Nathan's arm and went to pull Carlton off Gerald. "Everyone knows there are no such things as vampires."

* * *

"Ok. Yeah Chief I am fine. I just had a lead on the guys and had to get here before they could escape." Carlton talked to Karen as officers pulled the two groggy men from the hotel room.

"We were worried. You should have told someone where you were going." The stress and worry in Karen's voice was very evident.

"Believe me Chief, if there had been more time I would have but I barely caught them as it was. Spencer also found the body of the hotel manager downstairs." Carlton listened for a moment, "Yeah, we think there might be another person involved. Spencer and I are going to see what we can do to find him. Then we are going to head to the hospital."

Karen huffed out a frustrated breath, "I am at the hospital. I just got done talking to O'Hara, she is asking to see you two."

Carlton frowned. If the Chief was at the hospital it meant more than just Juliet was there. He had not stuck around long after the explosion so he had no real idea how hurt people had gotten. "What is the status? How many were hurt?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line which Carlton took as a bad sign. "I have three detectives and two officers in critical condition, there were many others with minor cuts and bruises or breaks from being thrown from the blast…but Carlton, I am sorry to tell you this but Detective Dobson didn't make it."

Carlton sucked in a breath. He had known Dobson for years. Next to Buzz, the man had been one of the most reliable errand runners in the station. Carlton had utilized his skills more than once. "I understand." Carlton said mechanically. Shawn, who had been standing by listening in hung his head. "I will keep you informed."

Carlton hung up and handed Shawn back his phone. "So, how are we going to find Lance now?" He asked the psychic. "We have no clue where he was staying in town."

Shawn shrugged as his phone rang. He picked it up without looking, figuring it would be his dad or Gus calling. "Hello?"

"Mr. Spencer." The cultured voice droned through the i-phone. "You seem to be as full of surprises as your fledgling."

Narrowing his eyes in anger and getting Carlton's attention Shawn greeted the insane vampire. "Lance."

"I do not know how you managed to do what you did but I cannot say that I am not impressed."

"Well that means so much to us right now. Maybe you should impress us by jumping into a vat of molten silver." Shawn replied in his snarky way.

"IS THAT LANCE?!" Carlton growled loudly and grabbed the phone away from Shawn. "Listen you pompous arrogant son of a bitch! I will hunt you down and take you out do you hear me?!"

Shawn grabbed the phone back and said, "See, you really shouldn't have made him angry, he has issues with that you know."

"I'll take your word for it." Lance replied sarcastically. "I am sorry we weren't able to have our little chat but since you had to interfere with my plans I have been forced to change them." Shawn didn't like the sound of that statement. "You know, now that I am up close, I realize what you see in the female detective. She is quite the beauty."

Shawn's heart sank. He was bluffing, he had to be bluffing...

"What is it Spencer?" Carlton saw his reaction and became very worried. It wasn't often Shawn showed fear.

"What do you want?" Shawn demanded.

Giving a dark chuckle through the receiver Lance stated, "I want the cure. If you really are psychic you should be able to find it and get it for me. You have my number, call me when you have it, and if I were you, I would have it done before dawn." The line went dead.

"Damn it!" Shawn swore and kicked a hole in the hotel wall. Some officers that were surveying the scene looked wide eyed at each other.

"Spencer what the hell is going on!?" Carlton demanded an answer.

"Lance has Jules. He must have seen us with her when he was watching the station. We have to get the cure for him before dawn."

Carlton shook his head, "How the hell are we supposed to do that?"

Shawn waved off the detective's question. "Don't worry about the cure Lassie. I found that yesterday."

"You have already had the cure Spencer? What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you say anything?" Carlton got in Shawn's face. He was sick and tired of his lies.

Shawn glared right back at him. "The less people that knew about it the better Lassie. Besides, since we already have the cure, it gives us more time to plan." Shawn grinned.

Looking at the psychic suspiciously Carlton was almost afraid to ask, "Plan what?"

Pulling out his phone again Shawn pressed 8 on his speed dial. A voice answered after a couple rings. "Carmichael Industries, Morgan Grimes speaking."

"Hey Morgan, it's Shawn. We have a problem and need a big favor."

* * *

**END NOTES:** **Yes I killed the elusive Detective Dobson. May he rest in peace. Also, if you haven't noticed. I am bringing back the series Chuck for a bit of a guest appearance :D**


	12. Tears and Fears

**Author's notes: This one was SOOOO hard to write and took longer than I thought it would but as you know perfection takes time. ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 12- Tears and Fears**

"Carmichael Industries…" Carlton said skeptically. "_The_ Carmichael Industries? Bull."

Shawn shook his head as he drove, "Yes Lassie, for the fifteenth time. Morgan is co-owner of Carmichael industries. Why is that so hard to believe?" They were speeding back to Carlton's apartment, then to Shawn's. After checking the GPS on Carlton's phone they realized Lance was not bluffing. The phone was in the hospital. Their first instinct was to rush there and find out for sure but both needed to get out of their bloody clothes and Carlton needed his car. However, the only thing the detective had been stuck on since overhearing how Morgan had answered the phone is the company name he answered with.

"Spencer, Carmichael Industries is one of the leading private defense organizations in the country and you were able to get them to come with a phone call." If Shawn didn't know better he would have thought Carlton was jealous.

Shawn shrugged. "It wasn't a huge feat or anything. Morgan is in on this too. If Lance ever found out about him he would be next on the hit list." Understanding finally came to Carlton's eyes and he nodded. "Besides, he is my blood brother and your…what is it? Blood uncle? Uncle Morgan kinda has a nice ring to it don't you think?"

Gritting his teeth Carlton snapped, "I am not referring to you or anyone else who is related to me because of vampirism as my family Spencer. At most you are my colleague, at the least, you are a constant annoyance." Taking a deep breath and shaking his head he asked, "How can you even be joking at a time like this? Lance has O'Hara and you are acting like nothing is wrong Spencer."

Carlton almost flew forward into the windshield as the car slammed to a halt. He was almost afraid to look but he turned his head anyway. Intense hazel eyes met his and Carlton felt instantly sorry for the comment. He knew how much Juliet meant to him but sometimes he just wished Shawn would stop the games. "Lassiter, I am _barely_ holding it together here. I really don't think you should be pushing the giant red button that says 'Do not push unless you want a homicidal psychic vampire running around.' Got it?" Carlton nodded and Shawn put the car back into gear and pulled back onto the street.

They were both silent until they got to Carlton's apartment. Shawn's phone ringing broke through the awkwardness. "It's Mick. Should I answer it?"

"He has a right to know Spencer. This is his "family" we are dealing with." Hopping out of the car he stated, "I won't be long." Before he turned and jogged inside.

Grimacing Shawn tentatively answered. "Hello?"

"Shawn! Are you guys alright? Beth heard about what happened to the station!" Shawn was touched at his new friend's concern.

"Lassie and I are fine but… there is something I need to tell you." Shawn proceeded to spill out a shortened but highly dramatic version of the story for Mick. Saying Mick would be unhappy was an understatement. Mick was pissed. He had a huge chip on his shoulder about the whole cure business, which is why Shawn had been reluctant to call him, but with Jules in trouble he needed all the help he could get, again. It was just over a week ago when he was put in almost this same situation. "There can't be that many crazy old vampires out there. Eventually they will stop kidnapping my girlfriend." He thought bitterly.

"You have the cure? You seriously have THE CURE?" Mick was angry but there was excitement in his voice.

"I have what I think is the cure but yeah, now I just have to figure out if Lance will actually trade me Jules back for it." Shawn knew there was no guarantee that he insane vampire would keep his end of the bargain. After what Lance did though, Shawn wondered if he even wanted to bargain anymore.

"Coralline traded herself and the temporary cure for my safety and Lance kept his promise, but it might have been because we are technically family so there is no telling for sure." Shawn heard Mick talking to Beth in the background. "I will be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks man. We are meeting at my dad's house. See you there." Shawn hung up but stared at the phone. He squeezed it in his hand, he felt like crushing it. He felt like screaming at the top of his lungs…he was getting tired of having to play the responsible one. Looking back Shawn realized he had probably been more mature in the last two weeks than he had during his whole life. It got him wondering if it was a vampire thing or if he was just putting on another mask. He was Shawn Spencer. He couldn't actually be acting like an actual adult… could he?

Carlton shouting "Spencer!" made Shawn jump and look up as he leaned in the passenger's side window of the car. "I'm heading to the hospital. I'll see if I can find the Chief. And be sure to step on it would you? I don't want to have to explain everything myself." When Shawn told Carlton that Karen had seen him with fangs he wasn't happy.

"Can do Lassie. Mick is on his way but we still have an hour to check things out before everyone gets here. I'll call Gus and see if he is at the hospital or helping out at the precinct."

At the mention of the SBPD Carlton's eyes hardened. "We are so going to nail that son of a bitch!"

Shawn glanced over with a raised eyebrow, "Bad choice of words Lassie."

* * *

After getting changed, Shawn called his friend and had spent the whole way to the hospital telling Gus that he and Carlton were ok. He made sure to leave out the part about Lance having Juliet until he was able to tell Gus in person. As it was, Gus was driving back to the hospital to meet up with Henry after helping out in a volunteer firefighter capacity at the ruined station. Apparently his father had been helping the Chief out with checking on the injured officers. Shawn had tried calling him too but his phone must be off because he was in the hospital.

Gus ended up pulling into the hospital parking lot right after Shawn. He could see Carlton's Fusion was already parked and empty. Both stepped out of their vehicles and gave each other a fist bump greeting. "Gus, I have something to tell you and I need your help because I don't know how much longer I can hold it together." Shawn took a deep breath and continued, "Lance took Jules, as far as I know she is ok but I..." Shawn's face scrunched as he tried to hold back his emotions.

Gus didn't even have to think about what his friend needed. He needed a hug. Shawn let out a small "oof" as Gus put his arm around his shoulder and comforted him. After a moment Shawn backed up and nodded, letting Gus know that he was good now. "Thanks buddy."

"No problem, but what are we going to do about Juliet and where is Lassiter?"

Clearing his throat from being emotional, Shawn pointed towards the hospital. "Lassie is inside finding the Chief and I already called in some people to help with getting Jules back. Morgan is on his way, so is Mick. I don't know what I am going to do about the Chief though, when I pulled her out of the building she saw me... at my worst if you get my meaning."

"Oh man." Gus knew Karen. She would want an explanation about that as soon as she saw him. "What are you going to tell her? You must be out of your damn mind if you are thinking about telling her the truth!"

Shawn started walking towards the building and Gus fell into step beside him. "I dunno man. If I still want to work for them and not avoid her for the rest of her life I am going to have to tell her something at least close to the truth. I'll leave it to Lassie to tell her about himself though."

"I'd like to be the fly on the wall for that conversation." Gus nudged Shawn and gave a small grin. Gus knew he had to keep Shawn's mood light so he could keep thinking clearly. He had done it a few times since the Yang case and it seemed to work for the most part.

Stepping up to the desk, Shawn asked, "Have you seen Chief Karen Vick around anywhere? Or if you could tell us some of the rooms where the injured from the SBPD have been taken?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you two reporters? Why can't you just leave those poor officers alone?"

Gus was luckily carrying his consultant ID and handed it to her. "We are consultants for the SBPD. We were there when the explosion happened and the Chief needs to see us."

Instantly blushing the nurse apologized and directed them to the second floor. "Isn't that the ICU?" Gus asked and the nurse nodded sadly. The two friends looked at each other and gulped. This was not good at all.

Thanking the nurse they got in the elevator and rode to it to the next floor. The ride was silent and both friends stood awkwardly, wondering how many more of their friends and co-workers would survive the night.

Stepping out, the pair saw doctors and nurses rushing though the hallway back and forth between multiple rooms. Even through the chaos they noticed Karen immediately. She was staring in one of the rooms with a worried look on her face. Carlton was no where to be seen but so they figured he was probably in one of the rooms visiting.

As soon as Shawn stepped out of the elevator his resolve broke. Spinning around he tried to get back in but found Gus had blocked his way. "How about we come back next week." Shawn pleaded with his friend. "Tuesday is a good day for me... OW!"

His babbling was cut off by a hard punch to the arm. "_Go over there and talk to her._" Gus hissed quietly at Shawn and pointed at Karen.

_"I don't want to go over there and talk to her." _Shawn hissed back.

_ "You will if you want to work for her again."_

_ "We can take private cases."_

_ "I will kill you Shawn!"_

_ "Good luck with that!"_

"Ahem." Karen cleared her voice right behind Shawn. The triumphant look on Gus' face told Shawn that his friend had been stalling while Karen had snuck up on him.

Shawn closed his eyes and huffed out a breath before turning around to face his boss. Besides her eyes being a bit puffy from crying, her demeanor was her normal, in control self. Her scent told a different story though. Anger, fear and something else Shawn couldn't decipher hung around her like a cloud. She was a volatile, emotional wreck about to go off at any moment.

Clearing her throat and finding her nerve Karen spoke, "Mr. Guster... Mr. Spencer."

Shawn rubbed his lip. "Hey Chief, we stopped by to see how everyone was doing and to talk to you."

Karen pursed her lips. She had a lot to deal with already but this was something she needed to talk to Shawn about. "Come with me. Mr. Guster, can you stay here a moment?"

Nodding, Gus looked around to find a seat as Karen led Shawn into one of the empty rooms. It was a full minute before she was able to speak, during which Shawn shifted from foot to foot nervously wondering how she was going to take this. "Mr. Spencer. I wanted to thank you for saving my life, but I had a couple questions about how you did what you did at the station."

"Chief I can tell you, but you have to promise not to do anything..." Shawn tried to find the right word, "...rash."

Karen narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean by rash?"

"Well, you could not shoot me for one."

Karen chuckled nervously, "I'm not going to shoot you Mr. Spencer."

"Lassie should take some info from your book." Shawn grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. But, just saying that, hypothetically of course, if there were vampires out there..." Shawn looked sheepishly at Karen. "...what would you think about it?"

Karen could not believe what she was hearing. She was in the middle of a huge crisis and Shawn was asking her about vampires. "I would think that my head psychic finally went crazy and is running around with vampire make up on. That is what I would think about it!" Karen gave Shawn a hard look. "I wasn't going to bring that part up but since _you_ brought it out in the open, I have begun to think you tricked the psychologist into thinking that you were actually fit for duty when you are still obviously mentally ill from your ordeal. Not to mention that you LIED to me about it."

Knowing he would need some physical proof, Shawn reached in his pocket and pulled out his Swiss army knife. As he flicked it open Karen took a step back, still questioning Shawn's mental state. He shot her a hurt look. "I just saved your life, I won't hurt you." Shaking his head he tried to figure out where he wanted to do this. Just because he was a vampire didn't mean he lost his distaste for pointy things. In fact it may have gotten worse since all he had been stuck with was pointy things since he became a vampire. Settling on his palm he winced and brought the blade to his skin.

"Shawn what are you doing?!" Self harm was a new one for Shawn but Karen wasn't about to let him hurt himself to prove he was a vampire. "Don't even think about it." She reached for the knife and Shawn backed up holding it above his head as she tried to grab it. "Give it to me Shawn!"

She attempted to jump for it and both ended up toppling onto the hospital bed with Karen on top of Shawn clawing for the knife in his hand. "Chief stop! I know what I'm doing! Wait! OW!" After a bit more reaching, Shawn let the knife go. He didn't want to end up hurting Karen or her baby.

Karen stood up quickly, getting out of the awkward position as fast as she could, "Mr. Spencer I am going to have you committed!" She brandished the knife at him as she shouted.

Thinking it was a bit backwards to take the knife away from him then threaten him with it Shawn raised his hands and stayed sprawled on the bed. "Chief, I need you to trust me. C'mon! You have known me for six years! You have seen me at my worst. I may be a bit eccentric but would I really lie about this? Especially now?"

"You are asking me to trust that you are a vampire?" Tears started to form in Karen's eyes. "I can't take this right now Shawn. I already lost a detective and an officer. I have two other detectives that won't make it through the night. I can't have you going crazy on me... especially since that is all _I _ feel like doing right now, and it wouldn't be fair if I couldn't."

Shawn stood up and patted Karen on the back. That was all she needed for the tears to become a water fall. As Karen turned and gripped his shirt burying her face in his chest Shawn realized what the other smell clinging to her that he couldn't identify was. Sorrow.

* * *

Carlton stood at the bedside of one of his fellow detectives. He had come in here after grabbing his phone from Juliet's room. He had not worked with Moses Johnson much because he was a narcotics detective, but he was a good cop and didn't deserve to be dying in a hospital because of a crazed vampire.

"I am not good at this whole, emotion thing." Carlton said to the still body. "But you need to hang in there, don't let that scumbag win." He stood watching him for a few more minutes before raised voices caught his attention.

Cocking his head towards the sound he heard what sounded like Karen yell, _"Mr. Spencer I am going to have you committed!"_

"Damn it Spencer!" Carlton growled and ran down the hallway, dodging nurses, doctors and Gus... "GUSTER?" Carlton spotted the black man sitting in the hallway. "What are you doing here?"

"Shawn and I ran into the Chief. They are having "the talk" right now." Gus was obviously nervous for Shawn.

Giving him a disbelieving look Carlton sneered. "And you didn't think of going in there to help when she started yelling?"

"I can't hear a damn thing they are saying. So don't blame me just because I can't hear as well as you!"

Carlton paused and listened again. He heard sobbing. "Great. Lets get in there before he does something else to upset her." Both Gus and Carlton entered the room and saw Karen crying and hugging Shawn. Shawn himself was blinking the mist out of his eyes and Carlton heard sniffling coming from beside him. "For the love of God Guster!"

"*Sniff* I'm sorry I can't help it." Gus started to cry and walked over to give Karen a hug. She turned and latched on to Gus and they both let the tears flow.

Finally free, Shawn walked over to stand by Carlton. "Have you told her yet?" The detective whispered to Shawn.

"Didn't get a chance to convince her I was anything but crazy." Shawn shrugged.

"Aw hell. Let me try." He started to walk to Karen when Shawn stopped him.

"Don't tell her about Jules." Shawn warned and Carlton nodded in agreement.

Walking over he tapped Karen on the shoulder and opened his mouth to speak. All he got was an arm full of Police Chief when she hugged him too. He stood there awkwardly as Karen finally realized who she was hugging.

Looking up and seeing Carlton, Karen straightened and fixed her hair, doing her best to compose herself for the detective. "Detective Lassiter." She greeted him curtly. Embarrassed at the emotional display.

"Chief Vick. Spencer told me he tried to tell you what was going on. We have to meet some people in an hour that are going to help us catch the man responsible for this and I need you to listen to us ok?" Carlton put his hands on Karen's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Concentrating, Carlton let his face change. "During the case last week something happened to us and this is the result."

Karen's eyes widened and she whirled around to look at Shawn who had taken his cue from Carlton and stood there with white eyes to help convince the Chief. "Sorry for freaking you out."

She turned her head the other way to look at Gus who looked totally normal, "Don't look at me, I'm still human." he smirked proudly, earning him a glare from both Shawn and Carlton.

"This is impossible. Vampires don't exist!" The Chief tried to protest.

Shawn shook his head and said sadly, "Not only do they exist Chief, the guy we are going after is one too. We can't tell you everything right now but just so you know, we aren't monsters...bad ones anyway." Carlton nodded in agreement.

"The week vacation..." Karen whispered. She was in awe that she had not noticed the change before. The little things she had seen from them the last few days started to add up. Shawn being able to tell she was pregnant, Carlton being a bit more grouchy towards Shawn. It was because he had already spent a week straight with him. It all made sense. "How many people know about this?"

Carlton pointed to himself and Shawn, "If you are talking about us, it is just the people in this room, along with O'Hara and Henry. Oh, and Marlowe." Carlton said his girlfriend's name with a smile.

Shawn remembered his father. They had to tell him about Juliet. "Where is my dad? He was supposed to be here and he is not answering his phone."

"He might have gone back to the station to help. Last time I saw him that is what he was going to do." Karen was still looking back and forth at the detectives, trying to process everything.

Shawn patted her on the shoulder. "Believe me, I know it is a lot to take in but you need to go back and do your Chiefly duties by taking care of your officers. We will explain everything later but believe us when we say that it will be taken care of." Shawn gestured his head towards the door and the rest took it as their cue to head out.

"If you need anything call us or Henry." Gus gave her a sympathetic look and followed Shawn out the door.

Carlton stayed behind a minute to talk to Karen alone. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but under the circumstances I hope you can understand."

"It's ok detective. We will talk later. Just get the bastard that did this and I will sleep easy tonight." The determined stare Karen gave her detective was all the permission he needed.

Carlton gave a sly smile. "You got it Chief."

* * *

**END NOTES: This chapter was incredibly hard because of trying to figure out Vick's reaction to everything. I wrote it serious, I wrote it funny and figured a nice mixture of sarcasm and crying would do. lol**


	13. What the Chuck?

**Author's notes: This chapter has a few Chuck spoilers but not many.**

**Really had a bit of fun with mixing the three series. **

* * *

**Chapter 13- What the Chuck?**

Juliet slowly opened her eyes. It was dark and chilly. The last thing she remembered was being in the hospital, warm in a bed. She tried to get up but immediately regretted it when she accidentally leaned on her broken wrist and let out a short gasp of pain. Her head also felt like she had smacked it on concrete after a 30 foot jump from a burning building. "Oh wait," Juliet thought bitterly, "I did."

With a grunt of effort and making sure she used her good arm, she sat up and looked around. She was in some kind of bedroom. "Probably an apartment or hotel." She reasoned. There was a bed but she had been placed on the floor. None too gently by the way she felt. She tried to piece together what she remembered but it was very little. She didn't remember falling asleep at the hospital. The last thing she remembered was talking to Henry.

When the door to the room abruptly opened, she turned her head to look too fast and almost passed out again. With a hiss of pain she put her hand to her head, forcing herself to stay conscious. A taller man walked in and knelt by her. Juliet recognized him as Lance by the obvious black eye he possessed. She remembered Shawn saying something about Lance being behind the bombing of the precinct. For the short while she was awake in the hospital she caught word that one of the detectives had died and many more people were injured.

"You son of a bitch. You blew up my station!" Even though it caused her pain she reached out and tried to punch him in the face. Lance moved quickly and grabbed her arms to stop her from swinging at him. He did avoid her broken wrist which puzzled the injured detective.

Lance gave her a scrutinizing look. "I can see what he likes about you." He sniffed her. "You have guts. You barely smell of fear, but I think your little group has to work a lot on their anger issues." Pushing her away, Lance raised an eyebrow at her. "Let's hope your detective boyfriend," Lance waved his hand in a dismissing gesture. "Is smart enough to take the deal for you."

"What _deal_?" Juliet scoffed.

"The detective and the psychic have to find me the cure that Cynthia hid by the end of the night, or I kill you." Lance shrugged nonchalantly like killing Juliet would be as emotionally impacting as swatting a fly.

Juliet gave Lance a cold stare. She wanted to scream and swear at him. She wanted to kill him herself but she suppressed the instinct and remained silent. Anything she said to him about Shawn and Carlton would give him more ammo against them. Turning away she faced the wall and refused to look at him. Her guys were coming for her, and when they got there Lance would be sorry.

"At any rate, if they do bring me the cure I promised I would let you go." Lance stood and looked down at her. "I never said I would let them go though." He let out a cruel and humorless laugh as he walked to the door. "And they are just going to love the surprise I have in store for them, especially the psychic."

The laugh sent a shiver down Juliet's spine and for a moment she hoped that they were not coming to get her after all.

* * *

All three vehicles, a blue Toyota Echo, a dark blue Ford Fusion, and a green Dodge Challenger, pulled up to Henry's house at the same time. Being that it was past midnight on a weekday there wasn't much traffic on the neighborhood roads.

Carlton and Gus got out and headed for the house. They stopped at the door before realizing Shawn was still by the vehicles and looking at his phone. "Shawn!" Gus shouted. "Are you coming?"

Shawn waved them on. "I'm going to try my dad again. You know where the key is, go ahead."

Shrugging Gus reached under the potted plant next to the door and pulled out a key. "A potted plant, really?" Carlton looked at him disbelievingly. He thought Henry would have a more secure home than that.

Gus gave Carlton a sly look and headed around to the back of the house. Curious, Carlton followed him to the front of the garage. As Carlton watched Gus used the key on a hidden lock box that was underneath a bird feeder he wondered aloud, "Shawn isn't doing well with this is he?"

The black man paused and looked at the detective, if Carlton was picking up that Shawn was getting a bit unstable it must be getting bad. "No, he's really not." Carlton had started walking to the house but Gus made a b-line for the garage door.

Gus unlocked the garage and went in as Carlton replied. "I'm almost surprised really. I never thought Spencer would have enough introspect to be this depressed."

Shaking his head at Carlton's stupidity, Gus stopped in front of an old clock on the wall. Behind that was yet another lock box but this one had a code. Gus faced Carlton and made a twirling gesture with his finger. With an eye roll and a sigh Carlton turned around while Gus entered the code. "You should give Shawn more credit. He's a smart guy, but even smart guys can be idiots sometimes." Carlton got the feeling that Gus had been talking about him but let it drop. "I got it. Let's go."

They left the garage and Carlton cast a look of disbelief at the younger man. "He has you go through all that just to get the house key?"

"Would you do any different?" Gus gave him an incredulous look.

"Of course I would! There would be at least one booby trap on the one with the bird house. If it didn't get anyone trying to steal the key, it would at least get some squirrels trying to get at the bird food."

Gus stared at him while using the key on the back door. "You've got problems."

Walking in they saw Shawn was sitting on the couch already finishing a bag of blood. "What the hell Spencer! You had a key the whole time?" Carlton was not happy.

Seeing his squeamish friend enter he quickly hid the blood back and stood up. "Lassie, don't be the chimp in the Clint Eastwood movies. Of course I have a key! It's my dad's house, who by the way I still cannot get a hold of."

Gus shot Shawn a worried look. "Shawn... do you think maybe Lance..."

Shawn interrupted him quickly. "Hey Lassie, there is blood in the fridge help yourself." He then walked into the kitchen to dispose of his own empty bag. From the kitchen he yelled to the pair, "Morgan called from the road. He is only a couple minutes away. Once he and Mick get here then we can plan."

While walking back into the living room, Shawn and Carlton heard a loud motor coming down the street. A few seconds later Gus heard it too. Mick's convertible was not exactly the quietest car in the world. Shawn rushed to the door and bumped into Gus as he passed him. "Ow Shawn! Watch it!" His friend complained.

Shawn however, was already out the door to greet Mick. Gus glared after him and checked the cure he had stashed in his pocket. It was still there. He wouldn't put it past his friend to do something hasty and just hand the cure over to Lance to get Juliet back. He and Carlton went outside to join Shawn.

Mick wasn't alone in the car. Beth, his girlfriend, got out of the vehicle as well. Stopping short Shawn looked from Mick to Beth with a worried look. She was human and he didn't want to put anyone else in undue danger to get Juliet back. She would never forgive him if he did. "Um, buddy... are you planning on bringing her with?"

"Don't worry. Mick has already told me more than once, I won't be going. I know what it is like being kidnapped and I just wanted to be there for Juliet when you got her back. " Both women had gotten along very well and Beth really didn't want a whole bunch of vampire guys to be the only ones around to comfort her.

Carlton stepped forward and shook Mick's hand. "Thanks for coming."

"Any time. Is Morgan here yet?" Mick looked around for him. As if on cue a very large black van pulled up behind Mick's Mercedes. Four people got out. It was almost like an action movie. Chuck and a stacked blond woman Shawn didn't know got out of the front. The back burst open and Morgan jumped out followed by an older, well-muscled man. All were decked out in tactical gear including coms and combat vests. They walked up in a perfectly straight synchronized line. Gus made googly eyes at the blond and Carlton noticed all the guns the older man was carrying. Both let out approving whistles while Shawn shook his head.

"Hey guys." Morgan said simply as they stopped in front of everyone.

Shawn raised his eyebrows at him. "Did you guys rehearse that or are you regular competitors in the sweet entrances competition in the Olympics?"

Chuck gave a toothy smirk. "I'd say a little of both. We are used to having to make a big impression on clients."

Gus was not listening to the conversation. He was too busy watching the blond who was standing there in a form fitting combat suit. "Helloooo Miss..."

"It's Mrs. actually. Chuck is my husband. I'm Sarah Bartowski." She smiled at Chuck and shook Gus' hand. Gus nodded and tried to not seem too heartbroken. "This is our weapon's expert John Casey." She said pointing to the older man.

Shawn gave a bitter humorless laugh. "Um, it isn't bring your significant other to hostage situation day is it? Because I am already ahead of the class on this, just saying."

John and Morgan shared a meaningful look. John had forbidden his daughter, Morgan's fiancé Alex, from coming with. For once Morgan had agreed with him, but Alex wasn't a super spy like Sarah was.

Carlton looked around at all the cars in the driveway and the people gathered on the lawn. "We should get inside so the neighbors don't start getting nervous."

Still feeling snarky, Shawn snapped. "It's not like they could call the cops now is it?"

The whole group looked at him. Some with anger, others with puzzlement. He definitely wasn't acting like himself. Gus started ushering people inside. "Lassiter is right. Let's finish the introductions in the house."

Shawn stayed where he was "I'll be right in. I need to try my dad one more time."

Gus gave one more glance back at Shawn before heading into the house.

As soon as he was sure everyone was inside, Shawn rushed to the back of the blueberry to finish his plan. He hadn't expected so many people to be coming and was going to have to alter his original idea. Grabbing the pen and paper he snagged from the kitchen he started writing a note. He was beginning to think the worst about his dad but didn't have the energy to focus on "what ifs." He needed to focus on how to get Juliet back and not freaking out.

He didn't mean to act like a dick towards everyone and was honestly touched that they had dropped what they were doing and rushed to help, but if any of them got hurt he would feel responsible. "Still," Shawn thought as he shut the trunk of the car. "having a small army show up on your lawn to save your girlfriend is pretty sweet."

* * *

By the time Shawn got back in discussion about their mission had already started. Beth and Gus were standing away from the group. They had been lost once the conversations had changed to gun calibers and hand grenades. "Ok! Listen up!" Shawn clapped his hands for attention. "The first thing we have to do is to convince Lance to meet us where we want. Lassie and I are familiar with a warehouse down town that would be a good place to set up."

John and Sara gave each other a confused look. "Lassie?" Shawn pointed at Carlton who rolled his eyes and raised his hand. John nodded in understanding. Chuck and Morgan always called him "Case." So he knew the head detective's pain.

"How do you know he is going to agree to your meeting spot?" Morgan asked.

"He's arrogant." Carlton interjected. "He might not see us as a threat enough to care."

Mick agreed. "From what I remember, he was incredibly sure of himself. You might just be able to pull it off if you bait him the right way."

"Ok," Shawn continued. "I need to know if any of you can shoot, and shoot good…well..." Shawn looked at Gus for help.

"It's 'well' Shawn."

"Yes! Well. I need someone that can shoot well." Shawn looked around the room.

Carlton smirked and was just about to brag about his shooting ability when Shawn stopped him. "It can't be you. Lance is expecting you to be there, and if you aren't it would make him suspicious."

Knowing Shawn was right, Carlton grumbled, "Fine."

Chuck pointed to John, "Casey can shoot. He's honestly the best any of us have ever seen." The compliment made John puff out his chest a bit. If there was one thing he prided himself on, it was his shooting ability.

Shawn made a note to test that someday. "Ok, Case. When you find a good position I am going to need you to stay low and wait for my signal." John grunted an affirmative.

"Shawn…" Mick started. "Can I see it?"

He didn't have to ask what Mick was talking about. Shawn looked to Gus who tentatively stepped forward and produced the small vial from his pocket and held it up. "You're sure it is the cure?" Morgan asked with wide eyes.

Shawn shrugged. "That or the cure for Hopkins Disease."

"It's Hodgkin's Disease Shawn..." Gus started to correct him.

"Either way!" Shawn interrupted the explanation, "Cynthia died to keep this safe. Making the cure was her goal, so yeah. I am pretty sure. Lance wants nothing more than to make sure this doesn't see the light of day…so to speak, and has done everything he could to kill anyone associated with it." He turned to Morgan. "He was responsible for the fire that killed Aaron's family and drove him crazy."

Morgan was the first surviving victim of Aaron's quest to make fledglings. All the ones before him went wild and were put down, so he counted himself very lucky to have survived. "So, Lance is the one who caused… everything? That dude's gotta go." Chuck nodded, agreeing with his friend.

Gus put the cure back safely in his pocket seeing Mick's eyes follow it the whole way. "Poor guy." Gus thought.

Returning to the matter at hand, Shawn proceeded to make a diagram of the warehouse, which wasn't hard since it was empty except for the freezer. The primary directive was to get Juliet out of harm's way as fast as possible. After she was out of the way, they would get Lance. There was no doubt his associate would be there with him so Morgan and Chuck volunteered to help take him down so Shawn, Carlton and Mick could focus on Lance.

"The problem is, if we try to hide, he is going to know we are all there by scent." Mick pointed out.

Shawn looked at Carlton with a grin. "Oh sweet justice no…" The detective knew exactly what Shawn was getting at even before he pulled it out of his pocket. The rest of the group around the table leaned in and saw the bottle of animal scent.

"It worked for me once. He'll know something is up and our sense of smell might be a bit blocked but it's worth the risk… and the smell." Glancing at the bottle again Shawn warned, "You may want to wear something you aren't too attached to."

* * *

Lance and his associate were sitting in the hotel room. It was almost 3am and there had been no word from the detective or the psychic. Lance was getting impatient. He had checked on the woman earlier. She smelled divine. He had not fed since that morning, but a deal was a deal, he had not harmed her.

Deciding it would be better to deal with things with a full stomach he turned to his associate. "I am going to go feed. If you hear anything let me know immediately." His associate nodded and Lance turned leaving the room.

Ten minutes later Lance returned wiping his mouth. The phone chose this moment to ring. Lance smirked, "Finally." He walked over to the cell phone he had set on the counter and answered it. "Did you find the cure?"

"What? No hello, how are you? I feel our relationship is past the formal stage don't you think? I mean, kidnapping someone's girlfriend is a pretty intimate thing right?"

Lance was a patient person, but somehow this psychic had the ability to cut his patience to the quick. "I am done playing games. If you don't have the cure you can say goodbye to…"

"Fine! We have the cure. She stashed it in a safe on her property and we just got back. We have to meet somewhere you know."

Lance thought about it. He didn't know the town well and he certainly didn't want to meet him in a small hotel room again. As if reading his thoughts the psychic added, "I know of some empty warehouses we could meet in down town."

"Do you think I am stupid enough to meet somewhere that you pick out?" Lance spat though the phone.

"You know what, yeah. Yeah I do. Because if you want the cure you are going to meet us at 1520 State street in one hour. Unless you are scared."

Lance's grip tightened on the phone. "Not one hour. Now. We are leaving now and if you aren't there. The girl dies." Lance hung up and threw the phone down. Turning to his associate he said, "I'll bring the girl. You know what to do. Let's go."

* * *

"Son of a _bitch_." Shawn hissed as he hung up his phone. "Lance took the bait but he is getting to the warehouse now. We have to go!"

A flurry of cocking guns and activity followed as everyone got ready in record time. "Here Shawn." Morgan handed him a combat jacket before finishing getting ready himself.

Shawn saw that Gus was also getting ready. Hating himself for what he was about to do, he walked up to his friend. "Gus, could you hand me the cure?"

Not thinking much of it Gus handed the cure over. He saw something was wrong with Shawn, "What is it?"

"I don't want you to come with us." Shawn said, unable to look Gus in the face.

"You must be out of your damn mind!" Gus shouted indignantly. "Juliet is my friend too. I can't just sit around while some crazy vampire has her hostage."

Carlton was currently putting on his vest. It wasn't like bullets would kill him, but they would slow him down, plus getting a stake through Kevlar was neigh impossible. Looking over at the friends he grumbled. Gus could be just as stubborn as Shawn and they didn't have time for arguments. "Guster, just listen to him. We can't have an untrained human running around. Beth is staying behind. You can hold down the fort with her."

Carlton didn't realize it but he had just told Gus to stay at home with the women. They were really killing his pride. Shawn's next words were the last nail in the coffin. "Gus, I didn't need your help when I was attacked by Aaron and I don't need your help now." Shawn continued in a mocking tone. "You're a salesman Gus! These are trained spies." He gestured at Chuck and Sarah. "Now I want you to do what you do best, grab your little pharmaceutical case and hit the road!"

An uncomfortable silence settled on the group as they did their best to ignore the crushed look on Gus' face and filed out to the vehicles. Mick gave Beth a quick kiss and left as well. With one last look at Gus, Shawn closed the door to his dad's house and he hoped it wasn't the door to their friendship as well.

Out in the yard Carlton pulled Shawn roughly aside. "What the hell was that Spencer? I didn't want him to come either but that was completely uncalled for."

"So is your face." He didn't have time to explain even if his attitude was making Carlton angry at him. "He isn't coming with. That's what we both wanted so let's drop it and get Jules back."

Carlton pointed a finger at him before hopping into the black van, "This isn't over Spencer."

Before getting in himself Shawn looked and saw Gus staring out the window. "I hope not." He said sadly.

* * *

Gus paced back and forth, furious at Shawn for treating him that way just because he wasn't a vampire. They had been partners for six years! Just the day before Shawn was saying that he trusted him more than anything and now this. He couldn't understand Shawn sometimes.

Beth saw the agitation in Gus' movements. She didn't know him very well but she figured he needed to talk to someone. "Gus? Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah, you can be my new best friend. I have a sudden opening in that department." Gus said bitterly before sitting down on the couch.

Sitting down next to him, Beth put her hand on his in a comforting gesture. "I'm sure he didn't mean that. He's stressed out right?"

"Yeah but there's something I don't get. I helped him when Aaron had him." Gus admitted.

Puzzled Beth asked, "What do you mean? He said you didn't help him."

Gus sighed and stood up to pace again. "That's what is weird about it. I am the one who staked Aaron. Why would he say I didn't help…" Gus froze in place. "Unless…" Suddenly Gus ran out the door with Beth right on his heels wondering what had made him so excited.

He reached in his window and opened the Blueberry's trunk. "What's going on?" Beth asked.

"Shawn figured the lie about Aaron would get my attention. Then he said to grab my sample case." Getting to the truck Gus threw it open and flipped the two latches on the case. Right inside was a note… and a small vial with red liquid.


	14. Fire Away

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Oh man was this a tough one to write. I hope it pleases because it was probably the chapter in this whole series I have worked the hardest on. :) Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 14-Fire Away**

_"Talent is a flame, Genius is a fire"- Anonymous_

**Santa Barbara- 1992:**

Henry and Shawn sat in the court room pews watching the proceedings with increasing interest. Normally Shawn would complain about having to sit through yet another boring trial but this one was a doozy. It also involved a police officer, which made it that more interesting.

They listened as the officer was examined and cross examined. Shawn frowned as he saw a look of shame that never left the officer's face his whole time on the stand. The perp he had been trying to apprehend had taken a hostage and taunted the officer. He had let anger cloud his judgment and made a bad decision in the heat of the moment. The mistake cost the life of an innocent civilian.

Henry leaned over to Shawn and whispered, "What would you have done in that situation?" Shawn thought about it for a moment, but he was unsure. Henry saw the puzzlement in his son's features and explained. "That officer let the bad guy find his buttons and press them. He should have kept his wits about him and realized what the perp was trying to do. When you are angry, you stop thinking clearly and start acting on instinct."

"So… what happens if you can't stop yourself from getting angry?" Shawn questioned.

The officer pointed to his son's head. "The trick is to know yourself and your buttons. If you do, you can plan ahead for the worst while you still can think straight. That is one of the things that makes a good detective Shawn." Henry looked down at the boy and smiled. He knew in his heart that his son would be, not just a good detective, but a great one someday.

* * *

**Santa Barbara- Present:**

Shawn opened his eyes. He had replayed his father's advice to him over and over in his head almost the whole van ride. Unfortunately his inner mantra of "Keep it together…keep it together…" was no longer working. He leaned his head back to rest on the side of the van behind him. He knew his silence was making the others in the back of the van, Morgan, Chuck, Sarah and Mick, very nervous. John and Carlton got the front seat.

Morgan and Chuck looked at each other. With widened eyes, unspoken words and head nods in Shawn's direction they had a fight about who would talk to the upset man. Morgan lost. "Uh, hey Shawn. Yeah are you going to be ok?" He asked tentatively.

Opening one eye in annoyance he saw the worried looks he was getting. With a sigh he lifted his head and nodded, struggling to keep up appearances. "Yeah, great. Just loosening the neck muscles." He rolled his head. "Good for getting the blood pumping."

Mick rolled his eyes and the other three gave him disbelieving looks. Shawn kept forgetting half of these people were government trained to sense deception and Mick could smell how he was feeling whether he wanted him to or not. "You really shouldn't keep this stuff bottled up man. Chuck did that once and I ended up hog tied in Nintendo controllers and..."

Defeated, Shawn interrupted him, "Ok fine. I'm worried, but I don't have time to be. I need to focus and get Jules back. So any emotional counseling can wait until that happens alright?" Apparently the rant worked as no one said anything else. It didn't stop the concerned glances though.

As they neared the warehouse he decided to break the silence and go over the revised plan one more time. "Once we get inside, if ol' black eye hasn't beaten us here, Chuck and Sarah are going to head into the upper decks and wait for Lance's guy to open himself up for attack. Then you are going to shoot the crap out of him with silver bullets. Morgan, once Juliet is far enough away from Lance, I need you to head in and try to grab her out of the way. That will leave Lance open enough for me, Lassie and Mick to attack." The three spies nodded and started talking amongst themselves. The van stopped a moment later and everyone hopped out quickly. They had parked a bit down from the building just in case and were going to have to walk the short distance to the warehouse. Shawn turned around to find where John and Carlton had gone off to so he could go over their part as well.

John Casey was the epitome of intimidation as he stood there with a custom sniper rifle loading it with silver bullets an inch long. He and Carlton were discussing the weapon as they were both doing last checks on their equipment. Chuck walked up and handed Shawn a communicator, "Here, put this in your ear like this..." he showed him and did a sound test with everyone. Figuring the comms were ready Chuck reminded Shawn to get his vest on.

After Chuck walked away Shawn put his hand to his head, he tried to figure out the best vantage point for John to see what was going on in the warehouse and have a clear shot. Getting the sniper's attention, he pointed to a building kiddy corner to the warehouse down the street. "John, you need to get to the roof over there and wait for my signal. Even if he notices everyone else in the warehouse, he won't know you are there." Shawn walked up and pretended to check out the gun. Reaching into his pocket he discretely handed John a note. John looked down and the note said, _Don't open until in position. _He gave Shawn a questioning look as the psychic stated,_ "_Don't shoot until I give the signal."

Carlton watched the exchange and wondered how Shawn had gotten so good at tactics. He was really starting to feel there was a lot more to Shawn than met the eye. He has been more surprised at the psychic the last two weeks than he had been in six years. "Spencer!" He called to get Shawn's attention. "Is Mick going to be out in the open with us or hiding?" They had agreed earlier that Mick would help them take out Lance but none of them were able to agree whether showing Mick was there would be a good idea or not.

"Mick, man I am going to leave this to you. You know Lance better than we do." Shawn looked at the other vampire questioningly.

With only a moment's more hesitation Mick made a decision. "Hell with it. I have been wanting a piece of that guy for four years. I will stand with you guys just so I can see the look on his face."

Shawn smiled and clapped Mick on the back. Remembering the scent, he handed him the bottle of Raccoon smell. "Pass that around. Remember, not too much." Mick took the scent tentatively and opened it. It stank really bad and filled his head with images he really didn't want to have in there. "Oh yeah... don't breathe too deeply around that." He had done it once and regretted it.

Shawn started to walk away but froze as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He moved away from the group quickly and read the text he had received. He began texting back. A few moments later Carlton's voice boomed at him. "Spencer! What are you doing? Everyone is ready lets go!" That got everyone's attention and he had six impatient people staring at him.

"Sorry, got a text about a free vacation weekend to the first twenty replies. I couldn't resist..." Seeing the impatient stares turn into disapproving ones, he stuttered, "I'll just try later." Before pressing send on his message and putting his phone away. Shawn let out his held breath as they all bought the excuse and turned around to walk the short distance to the warehouse.

* * *

Lance looked around as he got to the address that Shawn had given him. It was a rather smallish warehouse facing the highway but was a bit hidden by the larger buildings around it. "This is the place." He looked beside him and his eyes met the angry blue ones of Juliet. She had been bound, her hands behind her back and a gag in her mouth. Lance didn't want her ruining the surprise. He told his associate. "We don't know what he has set up so be cautious but stick to the plan."

The associate nodded as Lance went around to the passenger's side and grabbed Juliet who struggled and glanced worried into the back of the car before glaring at the tall vampire. "Shawn is going to kill you for this." She thought bitterly.

* * *

Lance walked into the back door of the warehouse. Shawn had given him directions to the back of the building. He took in the layout of the place quickly as he rounded a freezer into the main and open part of the building. Shawn, Carlton and Mick stood waiting 30 feet away.

Mick St. John was one of the last vampires in the world that Lance was expecting to see standing next to the detective and psychic, though his surprise barely registered through his cool exterior. He pulled Juliet forward and presented her ragged appearance to the detective and psychic. He got the reaction he wanted out of the detective, who growled but the psychic was unreadable... and the animal stench was back. "Probably a ploy to hide their emotions from me." Lance thought and smiled at how naive they were.

The four on the ground and the two in the rafters took in the fact that Lance was alone. There was no way he would leave his back up behind so they knew he had to be here somewhere, which means Lance had something planned too.

"I see this is going to be an awkward family reunion isn't it." Lance drawled.

"I'm just here to make sure you keep your deal with my friends." Mick answered seriously. "How's Coralline? Still alive or did you murder her too?"

Letting Juliet fall to the ground he answered, "Oh, you know my sister. She has her ways to get out of hot situations unscathed." Shawn and Carlton saw Mick tense up. Apparently Lance was baiting him with a painful subject.

"Regardless, I am here for something else." Looking at Carlton and Shawn he raised his voice, "Do you have the cure? Or do I have to show you what happens if you try to deceive me?" He pushed Juliet farther to the ground with his boot and started to press down. Juliet cried out through the gag and locked eyes with Shawn. "Your girlfriend is very pretty detective." Lance called to Carlton.

"My girlfriend!?" Carlton's indignant tone surprised Lance as did the confused glances each of the vampires shared with each other. The detective had been protective of the woman and the psychic was gay so Lance had thought she had to be Carlton's girl. "Why on God's green earth would you think she was _my_ girlfriend?"

Shawn was the only one to really know why Lance would think he was grabbing Carlton's girlfriend. "Um, I kind of made him think Gus was my boyfriend." Morgan suppressed a snort that barely came through the comms but caused Lance to glance around the warehouse for the source of the noise. "Oh crap." Shawn muttered as Lance turned his head to where each of their back ups were hiding.

Clenching his teeth in frustration he realized this must have been the psychic's plan. "Three more heartbeats... Mick, I would think you would know better than that." Lance verbally jabbed him. He leaned over and picked up Juliet placing his hand around her throat and covering his body with hers. "Tell them to come out."

"Can't blame a guy for trying." Shawn tried to be nonchalant but inside he was alphabetically reciting every curse word he ever learned, English or not. He motioned for everyone to come out.

Chuck and Sarah looked at Lance murderously as they descended the metal stairs to the main floor. Morgan hurried to their side from behind the freezer with a mouthed, "Sorry." to Shawn.

Lance was unable to tell if any of the people were human due to the stench so he had to assume all were vampire. He started to get impatient. This was getting a bit messy. "Show me the cure now!" He shouted. Shawn frantically dug in his pocket and presented the vial. Lance smiled evilly and asked, "Is that the real cure?" and closed his eyes to listen to each heartbeat for signs of deception.

Shawn breathed deeply and replied, "Yes." The only person in the room that knew the cure was not real was himself. He had done a lot of planning to keep it that way too. He figured Lance would want to know if he had the real thing or not.

Lance opened his eyes. Satisfied that each was telling the truth. "Now, bring it to me and you can have the girl."

Shawn looked at Mick, worriedly wondering if this was some sort of trick. However, the other vampire was still staring forward at Lance. He had to know that once Shawn had Juliet they would attack. Mick had a bad feeling about things.

Starting forward slowly, Shawn met Lance half way. The black eyed vampire stretched out one hand and presented Juliet with the other. Shawn looked at Juliet who was shaking her head and yelling through the gag, but Shawn paused the vial anyway. Grabbing Juliet he pushed her behind him and Morgan rushed forward and grabbed her out of the way.

Chuck and Sarah drew guns as Lance stepped farther away from Shawn. "You might not want to do that." He chuckled and backed up to where the freezer was.

"What?" Shawn asked sarcastically as he backed up to his own group just in case Lance tried to get him. "Another bomb. C'mon, you should switch it up a bit, you are so movie villain. Are you going to tell us all your dastardly plan now? Paaaaleeeze."

Shawn was just about to give the order to shoot when Morgan finally got the gag off of Juliet. "Shawn NO!" He looked at her puzzled.

"Not quite." Lance smirked and made a beckoning gesture to his right. Shawn's order caught in his throat as the associate rounded the freezer carrying Henry Spencer. Henry was unconscious and beaten bloody. He was hanging limply over the vampire's shoulder. Everyone looked on in horror as Lance once again had a human shield and the "cure."

Shawn had not moved from where he stood, just in front of the group. A scent wafted through the smell of raccoon. Carlton and Morgan caught it but being new to vampirism they had no idea what it was. Mick knew. "Oh man no." he groaned.

Anger was not a good thing for a vampire, they had to have control over their basic instinct which is why rogues, who had not learned the control needed early enough needed to be put down. They were dealing with something even more dangerous now. They were dealing with a vampire about to go into a blind rage.

Carlton, white eyed and seething with hatred, looked at Mick who was gaping at Shawn. He had a feeling the psychic was about to do something stupid. Moving forward he spoke in a low grumble, "Spencer, don't."

Shawn didn't hear him. His senses were all focused on his father. He cocked his head, noticing each wound Lance had inflicted before focusing on Henry's neck which had fang marks in it. The thread of resolve Shawn had been clinging to broke as his worst case scenario had come true. It had been on his mind since he had not been able to get a hold of his father. This man had blown up his friends, kidnapped his girlfriend and all but killed his father. Shawn couldn't hold back anymore. He growled, low and dangerous as rational mind gave way to pure instinct, and he didn't fight it. Fangs and claws grew, his eyes changed and his posture hunched into a predatory stance.

Chuck pointed to Shawn and asked Morgan, "That's not a good thing right?" Morgan slowly shook his head.

With a screech, Shawn bounded straight at Lance who had little time to do anything but drop Henry and prepare for the hit. Shawn bowled Lance over and both somersaulted and rolled to their feet, facing off.

The rest of the group stuck to the original plan. Chuck and Sarah opened fire on the associate who stood for a moment, surprised at what had just happened. One of the silver bullets ripped through his arm and he dropped to the ground, crouching out of the way of the next bullet volley and charged the pair.

Mick and Carlton sprang into action and ran to intercept Lance and Shawn since the latter had gone flying into a wall after a round house kick to the face. Shawn didn't stay down long. He ducked a punch and slammed his palm into Lance's nose causing it to bleed profusely. Mick and Carlton hit Lance at a run as he paused to hold his nose. With a turn, he deflected Carlton's blow but Mick's hit knocked him down.

Morgan had to jump back from Chuck and Sarah as Chuck swung his wife in a sweeping arch by grabbing her arms and kicking the associate in the face, sending him sprawling. "Yeah buddy!" Morgan cheered as Chuck dropped Sarah on her feet and cast a smile in his friend's direction. The momentary distraction was all the associate needed as he rolled to his feet and grabbed Chuck by the throat. Sarah tried desperately to pry his hands off. Morgan's eyes changed and he leaped on the associates back, hitting him over the head repeatedly while yelling. "Let go of my friend!"

Across the room, Lance had kicked Mick off of himself, flipping to his feet before dodging Shawn's next blow. He backed away from the other three vampires, getting his bearings. "Looks like I hit a nerve with this one." He wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand while Mick and Carlton held onto Shawn, keeping him back. "He was very refreshing, I think I may have taken too much though... such a shame." The face sympathetic look on his face was worse than if he had laughed.

Shawn bellowed and shrugged off Carlton's grip before reaching at Mick's coat, and grabbing the custom silver knife he kept inside of it. Carlton, Mick and Lance all backed up from him. Unsure of what the unstable vampire would do. Shawn gave a toothy grin at Lance who had readied himself for the attack. However, Shawn turned and charged at the other fighting group.

Chuck was still being held by the neck. His eyes unfocused for a moment before snapping open and he did a move, hitting the pressure point of the associate's hand. The vampire immediately let go and Morgan jumped off his back. As Chuck gasped for air Sarah kicked the vampire in the chest, driving him back from them. Suddenly, Shawn was there, bringing the knife around in a batter's swing that sliced cleanly through the neck of the disoriented associate.

Everyone in the room stopped and watched as the head rolled away from the falling body. Shawn skidded to a stop and faced Lance waving the bloody knife in his direction. He cocked his head and smiled, loving the shocked expression on the elder vampire's face. He sniffed and caught the smell of fear and chuckled. The sound sent shivers up Carlton's spine. The laugh was filled with malice and so un-Shawn like coming out of the psychic's mouth. Apparently Shawn wasn't home right now.

Lance stared in horror as his companion of three hundred years dropped headless to the floor. The calm and collected look on his face was gone and replaced with shock and rage. Mick and Carlton tried to take the chance and rushed Lance while he was distracted. Lance saw them coming out of the corner of his eye. His companion was dead, he was done toying with these pests. Crouching low he flipped Mick over his head and the investigator landed on his back with the wind knocked out of him. He grabbed Carlton by the arms and swung him around sending him flying into the corner of the freezer. He felt his back snap on impact.

"AHHH!" Shawn and Carlton cried out in shared pain. Lance was about to go after Carlton when Shawn ran at him with an inhuman shriek, the knife poised to attack. Lance grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Shawn tried to swing the knife but Lance used his other hand to knock the weapon away. Shawn, still not in his right mind, started clawing and biting at the arm holding him up.

"You...little insect." Lance spat out as he reached in his pocket. He pulled out the vial and plunged it into Shawn.

"No! Spencer!" Carlton shouted as he tried to get up. His back hadn't quite fixed itself yet and he was struggling to get his feet underneath him.

Lance smirked and waited for the cure to take effect. The sight of the vial and the pain from the injection momentarily snapped Shawn back to reality. He stopped thrashing and biting. He closed his eyes and tried to remember, "There was a plan? Wasn't there?" He attempted to organize his thoughts. "Something I'm supposed to do..."

The answer came to him suddenly and his eyes popped open, meeting Lance's for an instant before choking out, "CASEY! NOW!" A second later a shot rang out followed by breaking glass. Shawn jerked as a bullet ripped a giant hole through his midsection and embedded itself into Lance's chest.

Stumbling back, Lance dropped Shawn, who fell unresponsive to the floor bleeding profusely. The vampire looked at the large hole in his chest. The silver was painful but it wouldn't kill him. That was until Gus appeared from behind the freezer and rammed the cure into his back while pressing down on the plunger.

Lance howled in pain and swatted Gus away, sending him skidding a few feet. Gus grabbed his arm in pain and watched as Lance started to shake. He collapsed to his side and a stream of frothy blood came out of his mouth. Lance touched where the bullet entered and saw his hand was covered in blood. "_Impossible_." He whispered before his hand dropped limply and he became still.

Beth ran out from behind the freezer and rushed to Mick's side. Chuck, Morgan and Sarah ran to assist the father and son currently sprawled on the concrete floor. Henry was still and Shawn was barely moving. The young man looked up at Gus and smiled. "_You are so Orlando Bloom right now_." He whispered.

Gus chuckled, only Shawn would make a Pirates of the Caribbean reference while gravely wounded. "That would make Casey Johnny Depp."

Juliet had scooted up to Shawn and placed his head on her lap while stroking his hair. "Jules..." Shawn smiled before his eyes closed and he passed out.

Finding his feet and limping over Carlton winced as another vertebrae snapped back into place as he walked. He went to Henry's side and checked his pulse. It was weak but there. He turned to Gus, "Guster what the hell are you doing here?"

Gus was looking down at Shawn who had fallen unconscious. "Shawn left us a note and the real cure in my car. He took one of my insulin needles and made a decoy." He handed Mick the note and picked up each needle holding them up to each other. They were almost exactly the same.

Mick looked at the note and read it aloud.

_"Gus, I am sorry I said those things to you. You are my best friend and will always be the cheeze whiz to my twinkie. You are right. I am not handling this well, and what is worse is I have a feeling that Lance may have my dad. If that happens I may go postal, seriously. _

_ So, my dad said always have a back up plan right? You are that plan and no one else knows. If Lance senses they are lying about the cure... Jules is done for and I can't live with myself if that happens._

_Text me when you get this. I'll tell you what to do. I'm counting on you buddy."_

Mick finished and looked up at the confused faces. They had seen Shawn was texting someone earlier. It must have been Gus. He reached in Shawn's pocket and pulled out his phone. Sure enough the last text he sent to was to Gus.

(Whouse, Bdoor. Wait 4 NOW. U no WTD.)

Morgan looked at the text. "Ok, well that can't get any more cryptic."

Shaking his head and remembering the text Shawn sent from the truck of a car, Carlton answered, "We've worked on less before."

At this point Gus was starting to get worried for Shawn, and a bit queasy. The wound wasn't healing and he was losing a lot of blood. He pushed the nausea down and took of his shirt, pressing it to the wound. "We need to get him some blood, and Juliet and Henry need a hospital."

John then entered the warehouse, slamming the door open loudly. He walked up to the group quickly, wordlessly glancing at his team and they nodded that they were alright. Juliet however was furious. "What is wrong with you? How could you shoot him? Why didn't you wait till he was clear?"

"He gave me this before I went on the roof. Told me to open it when I got up there. By the time I was in position we had gone silent on the comms and I couldn't say anything." Juliet read the note and handed it to Gus.

"_Don't open until in position"_ on one side and "_Shoot him in the heart __no matter what__"_ written on the other.

"How does he do this?" Carlton exclaimed in frustration. "Damn it Spencer."

Mick stood up. "We are going to have to call the cleaners in on this one." Morgan and Carlton shifted uncomfortably. Mick had told them about Cleaners. They were a type of vampire clean up crew. They were the ones who officially executed rogues like Aaron was and cleaned up human killings. Accidental or otherwise. "We can't have all these humans here when they get here though. They know about Beth but this many people may attract some unwanted attention."

Sarah stepped forward. "Chuck, Casey and I will take them to the hospital. Morgan has a packet of blood in the car, I am not sure how far that will get him but it is something. Gus can come with us if he likes too."

"I'm staying with Shawn." Gus said quickly.

Juliet looked at Gus with tears in her eyes as Chuck helped her to her feet. "Take care of him."

"You know that's right."

* * *

As the injured were carried off and Morgan ran to get some blood, Carlton looked down at Shawn's pale form then at the headless vampire a few feet away. "What happened with Spencer back there?" He asked Mick, who was eyeing the empty vial of cure sadly.

Mick looked up, realizing Carlton was saying something to him. "Usually sires stay close and their fledglings for months, even years after a turn. They have to be there in case something like this happens, but with you guys we didn't have that option. That is why we tried the crash course this last week. You guys are still learning your limits and it looks like Shawn reached his."

Carlton winced at the memory of himself almost killing the two agents that burned down the station. Even though they deserved it, as an officer he would have felt horrible if he would have gone through with it. So he was now wondering how Shawn was going to react when he comes to and remembers what he did. The young man had killed someone and he was going to have to live with that for a long, long time.

* * *

**END NOTES:**

**Man, I agonized over Shawn killing someone. I really did but one of the things about Moonlight vampires is they can go off the deep end.**

**In the series Josef has known Mick for decades and still had to force himself to not bite him at one point. So to stay true to the crossover I figured it was something that would make sense.**


	15. When the Smoke Clears

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Aftermaths are so much fun aren't they?**

* * *

**Chapter 15- When the Smoke Clears**

Morgan returned a few short minutes later with the single blood pack, knowing it wouldn't be enough but it was better than nothing. Gus had backed off a bit to let the vampires try to coax Shawn back to consciousness. The psychic did not look good at all. A large puddle of blood had leaked out from his back, soaking his shirt and was spreading on the concrete.

Mick had called the cleaners but the closest ones were almost an hour away. "Mick wasn't kidding when he said Santa Barbara didn't have many vampires." Carlton thought. He watched as Shawn instinctively swallowed the blood and groaned when the stream stopped. "He's going to need more isn't he?"

Mick nodded solemnly. He told the cleaners to bring blood with them but if Shawn didn't get more soon he may wake up feral again. Gus saw Mick glance in his direction. "What?"

"He needs more blood." Mick asked delicately.

Gus' mouth went instantly dry. He would be lying if he hadn't thought of this survival scenario before but he knew that if Shawn found out who he fed off of he would feel guilty forever. "I don't know if he would want me to." Gus admitted but felt unsure as he looked at Shawn, sweating and grimacing on the floor.

Beth walked over to Gus and put her hand on his shoulder. Her large blue eyes boring into his own brown ones. "I had to do this to save Mick once. He felt bad about it later, but you will be saving him a lot of pain." She knew it wasn't going to be easy for either of them, but it was the best option they had at the moment. If Shawn appeared out of control in front of the cleaners it could be disastrous.

Taking a deep breath Gus knelt down, favoring the arm that he had landed on earlier. "What do I do?" Shawn was still not fully conscious so Mick made a small scratch on Gus' wrist and put it under Shawn's nose. Instinct did the rest. He bit down as soon as the blood was brought close enough. Gus winced and fought not to get sick. He turned his head away and ended up catching Carlton's eye. He saw respect there and it made him feel a bit better about the situation.

Beth knelt by Gus' side for moral support. While Carlton, Mick and Morgan walked over to Lance's body. "How are we going to explain this to the cleaners?" Morgan asked looking down. "Aren't they supposed to be some kind of scary vampire cops or something?"

Mick smirked, "I know some personally. I called the ones in I trust and they shouldn't ask too many questions. It would be a long shot for any of them to know Lance personally. He may be old but he stayed in Europe, so we could just say he was a human working with a vampire to murder other vampires. Even if we took Lance alive they would have put him to death for what he did."

Noises from the floor turned their attention to Shawn. He was starting to come around. He still had not let go of Gus' arm but it had only been a couple minutes so the man was in no danger of losing too much blood yet. Shawn's face scrunched and he was obviously figuring out something was in his mouth. He sniffed and froze, no longer biting down. "Uh oh..." Carlton knew Shawn was in no way going to be happy about this.

"What?" Gus, who had his head turned away, looked at Shawn, who had flinched away from his arm and was struggling to sit up. "Shawn, its ok, stay still."

Shawn opened his eyes slowly. He glanced up and blinked disbelievingly at Gus before looking down at his friend's arm, which Beth was quickly binding with a piece of cloth she had ripped from her sleeve. "Gus... what?" Shawn's brain tried to catch up with what he was seeing. When it finally did, Shawn felt like he was going to be sick. He had just bitten his friend. He started sputtering and attempted to grab his shirt and wipe off his tongue before Mick and a butt load of pain stopped him. "Ah!"

"Take it easy man, you lost a lot of blood." Mick said, keeping Shawn from getting up. Even if the bullet went in and out it had still been silver and would take a bit to heal the damage.

His vision still clearing, Shawn shook his head and grabbed at Gus. "Gus..."

"I'm here buddy." Gus leaned in and Shawn gripped the front of his shirt roughly and pulled him forward.

Bringing his friend practically nose to nose he growled, "_Never_ do that again. No matter what. Got it?" Gus nodded vigorously and Shawn let him go. "But thanks buddy." He lay back, breathing as deeply as he could to deal with the pain. "What happened?" He asked the group.

Mick knew this was normal. Once the rage subsided it took a while to remember what happened. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Shawn closed his eyes. "I remember getting shot, but before that...Oh my God! Where is my dad? Jules?" Shawn pushed Mick away and sat up, crying out in agony.

"Shawn! Shawn it is ok. They got taken to the hospital by Chuck and Sarah." Gus held onto Shawn's shoulder to steady him.

"You're here, so you got my message right?" Gus nodded. "That means you gave Lance the cure." Shawn's shoulders slumped and he winced at the movement. He really hoped it hadn't come to that. The cure was gone. Glancing at Mick, Shawn felt the need to apologize. "I'm really sorry man, about the cure you know."

Mick nodded and mumbled, "It's not your fault." Shawn knew better than to push it any more than that for now so against his nature, he stayed quiet.

"Um, guys. Is there anything we should do or uh, hide before the cleaners get here?" Morgan asked.

Mick shook his head. "Gus already has the syringes and there shouldn't be any other problem."

"The cleaners are coming?" Shawn knew what they were intimately. During training, Josef had one talk to him. Being such a young sire was uncommon and frowned upon so he got the third degree about how much he would die if he ever let Carlton slip up. They were sufficiently scary enough to get the point across. "Why are the cleaners coming? Lance was killed with a bullet, not by a vampire." Then Shawn remembered Lance's associate and glanced around the room. He noticed the headless vampire and gave a whistle. "Which one of you guys did that?" He gave them such an innocent look.

The other vampires all looked at each other, uncertain if they should tell him the truth. Carlton knew that hiding the truth from Shawn would just make it worse in the long run. He felt that way after everyone hid that Shawn was his real sire. He glanced apologetically at Gus, who didn't know what Shawn had done either. Thinking it better to plunge right in he said, "Spencer... you did it."

Gus shook his head, shocked. "There is no way."

Shawn looked at Carlton confused. His mind didn't want to register what the detective had said. "What... I did it?" Shawn painfully raised his finger to his temple and closed his eyes. There was a haze blocking his normally clear memories. He squeezed his eyes tighter and a memory broke through the fog. _Evil laughter, Mick's knife and the tormented look on Lance's face._ Shawn's eyes popped open and he turned to the side, dry heaving. His vampiric body not letting him expel the much needed blood he'd ingested, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Mick stood and went over Carlton, making room for the people now comforting Shawn. Morgan was trying to tell him that by taking out the associate he probably saved Chuck and Sarah's lives, but Gus' crying was not helping matters. "You know, you'd be the one who would have more luck at this." Mick said seriously. "Sires need their fledglings just as much as fledglings need their sires, plus with your bloodline it may bring him some comfort if you were there for him."

"Why me? I barely even like Spencer." Carlton mumbled uncomfortably.

Mick looked at him angrily and poked the detective in the chest, "Get your head out of your ass. Anyone can see you are friends. I've seen how he acts around Gus and they are best friends. Shawn's competitiveness is always in jest. I know that and I only met him two weeks ago. You have known him for years." Carlton hung his head and said nothing. "You should have seen him during the training, constantly worried about how YOU would feel if he smoked you at everything. Think about it, if he is your sire... how did you beat or match him at every single test?"

Carlton got a bit miffed at that. "You are saying that Spencer cheated to be _worse_ than me?"

"He admitted to me that part of it was not wanting you to know he was your sire, also because he knew how you would feel about that, but he has been trying hard since this happened to make the transition easier for you. To make you feel better because he thinks this is all his fault. I think it's time you returned the favor don't you detective?" Now _that_ made Carlton feel like a dick.

"Ah hell." Carlton complained and knelt down by Shawn, who was still bent over trying not to be sick at what he had done. Carlton tried to put a comforting hand on Shawn's back but there was no place on the back of his shirt that wasn't covered in blood. He looked down at the ruined clothing and got an idea. Taking of the ballistic vest and the vest on underneath he offered the latter to Shawn. "Here Spencer, put this on. No one here wants to see you bloody, or half naked."

Gus took the vest as Mick and Morgan helped Shawn to his feet to make changing shirts easier. "See Gus," Shawn wiped away some moisture off his face. There was no way he was admitting that the wetness was tears. "I knew Lassie would give me the shirt off his back one day."

The group smiled at Shawn's humor and Carlton stood up looking annoyed but he was secretly relieved. "Very funny Spencer."

Everyone's eyes fell to the largish hole in Shawn's torso that was glaringly visible once he removed his jacket and t-shirt. Despite Shawn's joking, it had to hurt. He quickly started putting on the vest to stop the stares he was getting. Taking a few tentative steps, Shawn purposefully avoided looking at the associate's body but he did go and look at Lance's. The cold stare came back to his eyes as he looked at the body on the floor in front of him. "All that contempt for humans, and you end up dying as one." Shawn gave an amused snort, "Now that's irony."

The group had gone silent as Shawn looked down at the corpse, processing what had happened. That made the warehouse door opening with a bang all the more surprising. Everyone, still in defense mode turned around and faced the people filing in the door. Mick was the first to relax, realizing the cleaners had arrived.

* * *

Gus didn't know what he was expecting, but he wasn't expecting two of the most beautiful women he had ever seen walk in wearing shiny black body suits. One was blond and one was brunette, their hair was up away from their faces in neat ponytails. The only thing stopping him from going into player mode was the fact that he knew these women could kill him with their pinkies. Mick had told him and Beth to stay out of the way when the cleaners did their work. They weren't fans of humans knowing about them.

The brunette approached Mick with a smile. "Mick, you haven't called in a while." She scanned the bloody chaos of the room. "Though when you do it always ends up interesting."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Mick smirked and moved aside so she could get a look at the others in the room. "These are the guys I told you about. Carlton Lassiter, Morgan Grimes and Shawn Spencer."

The cleaner nodded at each of them and her eyes settled on Shawn. She sniffed and walked up to him, pushing aside the vest material he had not yet zipped up. Shawn yelped as the cloth brushed against the bullet hole. She looked up at him and said "Silver." It wasn't a question. She reached into the satchel she was carrying and pulled out a couple of blood packs, waving them enticingly. "Mick said you would need these. Now I see why." Shawn took them gratefully. He moved off behind the freezer to drink them though, the shame from feeding on Gus had not faded at all.

The blond cleaner had busied herself ordering around some men who came in with cleaning supplies. This made Carlton and Morgan smirk a bit. They hadn't really thought about them being literally _cleaners_.

After giving Shawn the blood, the brunette went back to Mick. "So you going to explain this one or leave me another mystery?" She smiled warmly at Mick and Beth glared at her. Hearing Beth's heart speed up she acknowledged the blond. "Hello there Beth." She smiled and winked.

Mick knew her flirting was harmless, she had done it for years but he didn't want Beth to get riled up. "Sorry, this isn't one we are going to share. I just stuck around to let you know the vampire who was killed was responsible for the arson fires around the state. He had to be taken out, and you won't have to worry about any loose ends either."

"If I get asked about this one from the higher ups I am sending them straight to you Mick. Other than that, my lips are sealed." She flicked Mick's collar and went to go join her co-worker who was currently directing the men to haul away the bodies.

Mick let out a breath as she walked away and felt the need to go to Beth who was fuming. Shawn was just coming out from behind the freezer. His color looked a lot better and he would be ok as long as he got some more blood later. "Everything is cool. Let's leave them to do their work." He caught Shawn's eye. "We'll go see how Juliet and your dad are doing." Mick put his hand on Beth's back and guided her out of the building. Carlton and Morgan lagged behind with Morgan making comments about how if they didn't have girlfriends and stealing glances at the cleaners.

Shawn hobbled to the door and Gus put an arm around him to steady his steps. He winced with each movement. "You never know how many muscles are used for walking until half of them are practically hanging out of you."

"Your muscles are not hanging out of you Shawn." Gus grunted as he helped Shawn walk.

Shawn let out a breathy laugh. "I've felt it both ways."

"No you haven't Shawn."

"You gotta admit though, what I did took guts."

"Shawn, that's completely gross"

"Well now at least we know that vampires can be holey."

"SHAWN!"

Giving Gus a wide grin, he figured he almost had his friend believing he was alright, but in reality he was far from it. Shawn knew _everything_ wasn't his fault but it felt that way. He also couldn't help but remember his own maniacal laughter as he killed someone in cold blood. If he really had that much darkness in him, would his friends ever be safe around him?

"Shawn stop dragging your feet!" Gus complained. "It's bad enough I have to almost carry you."

"Aw c'mon, helping me isn't so bad. You never know, this bullet wound might just have a silver lining…"

* * *

Henry was in a lot of pain when he woke up. His whole body ached and he could only compare it to how he felt after being hazed during his first week at the police academy. He chanced a peek at his surroundings, wondering if he were still in that filthy hotel room just waiting for Lance to come back and finish him off. He never felt so much like a weak old man as when he wasn't able to save Juliet and himself from being taken from her hospital room.

The beeping machinery and white walls made him instantly realize he was back in the hospital, or for some reason Lance had decided to put him on life support. After the last two weeks he had, nothing would surprise him anymore. His question as to how he got there was answered when he looked around and saw his room was filled with people, and his roommate just happened to be Juliet.

An exhausted looking Shawn sat between the two beds while a ragged Carlton sat on the other side of the sleeping Juliet. He recognized Mick, who was pacing the floor but no one else looked familiar, a couple of them were asleep as well. Almost all of them were sporting injuries of some kind or in the case of the vampires, remnants of injuries. Torn clothes and bloody streaks on their flawless skin were the only indicator that Mick, Carlton and Morgan had been in a fight. Shawn was hunched over painfully which kick started the parental worry Henry was unable to shut off, even when he knew his son was neigh invincible.

"Dad." Shawn was the first to notice his father was awake and looking at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was kidnaped by a lunatic vampire." Henry groaned.

Shawn shook his head, "The point of exaggerating is to actually exaggerate dad."

Henry gave an amused snort and looked over at his roommate. "How is your girl?" Henry made a weak head motion in Juliet's direction, doing his best to not aggravate his neck wound.

"Still hasn't woken up." Carlton interrupted. "The doctor visited and said she had a concussion. She is getting an MRI in the morning, and her wrist is re-broken."

"If the doctor was here, why didn't he kick everyone out? It has to be way past visiting hours and I don't think you could convince anyone that you are all my kids." Mick smirked. He was starting to realize who Shawn got his sarcasm from.

Shawn glanced at Sarah and Chuck who were sleeping and Casey who was sitting with his arms crossed keeping an eye on the hallway and anyone who approached the room. "Technically, I hired them as Jules and your body guards. They couldn't deny you guys protection, especially since you were taken out of here once."

"Whatever works I guess." Henry smiled and yawned, his eyelids seemed very heavy all of a sudden. Apparently another dose of timed pain killers was entering his system. He reached out his hand and received a gentle squeeze from Shawn as his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

Letting his father's limp hand go, Shawn leaned forward and put his head in his hands. He was so tired. Carlton stood up and walked over to him, shaking Gus awake on the way. He grabbed Shawn's arm and started dragging him towards the door but Shawn yanked his arm away. "I'm not leaving them."

Grumbling at the psychic's stubbornness Carlton tried to reason with him. "We need sleep Spencer, and we are not going to get it here."

Mick stepped in. "He's right, you two have been through hell tonight and need the rest. We'll keep an eye on them for you, I promise."

Casey grunted an affirmative. "Anyone tries to get in here they'll have to deal with me."

"Are you sure you guys are going to be ok? You and Morgan need sleep to." Shawn pointed out.

"I think I will be fine staying up late. You big time heroes deserve some shut eye."

Morgan's statement almost made Shawn laugh. _Big time heroes._ Looking at his injured loved ones didn't make him feel like a hero. Neither did hearing about them losing three detectives and two officers in the blast, but he knew they were right. Not sleeping wouldn't help anyone. Shawn walked over to Juliet's sleeping form. He pulled out his keys and unhooked the little pineapple he always kept on it. He gently took her good arm that had her hospital band and connected the keychain to it. Bending over, Shawn kissed her forehead. "Let me know if she wakes up."

"No problem." Mick sat down on one of the couches they had brought from the hallway and settled in next to Beth. "Have a good rest."

* * *

Gus, Carlton and Shawn were just about to get into the elevator when they looked into one of the waiting rooms and saw Karen was still there and still awake. "Hold on guys." Shawn asked as he slipped into the small enclosure. She barely registered his presence. He could only assume that she had also heard about the officer's deaths too and was blaming herself. He knew that feeling well. "Chief? You ok?" He instantly knew how dumb the question was as soon as the words left his mouth.

"I'm just tired Shawn." She wasn't even using formalities at this point. She was just too worn out to care.

Shawn felt a pang of remorse and realized it was coming from Carlton. He waved the detective over and backed up to give him room in front of Karen. "I think you should be the one to tell her."

Karen expected the worst. "Tell me what? Is Juliet alright? Henry?" She had heard something had happened and they were brought in by a security team injured but alive. With her luck it had been worse than she thought.

"It's actually good news… well not good but ok I guess if you would call it…"

"Get to the point detective."

"We got him Chief." Karen's head rose and Carlton had her full attention. "The guy who caused all this, we got him."

Karen nodded. She still looked upset but some of the tension in her shoulders was gone. "Should I even ask what happened?"

Shawn gave a quiet, "No." Before walking out of the room.

"It's best if you just focus on the BCA agents we have in custody. There is no way they are getting out of this and it gives the courts someone to go after. Even if they were just pawns, they still killed with that bomb and should hang for it." Carlton took Karen's hand and shook it. "We're going to get some sleep. You should do the same, you have done more than enough."

"I'll consider it detective." Karen gave a sad smile and looked out at Shawn and Gus in the hallway. "I've seen that look before in a lot of cops Carlton, keep an eye on him so he doesn't internalize things. Lord knows he does it enough already."

"There's a reason she is the Chief." Carlton thought amusingly to himself, and nodded at Karen. "I promise." He walked out of the waiting room and almost enjoyed the quiet elevator ride down and walk to the parking lot.

Once they were about to go their separate ways, Carlton finally found his voice. "Spencer. You did a good thing today. I know it doesn't feel like it but the fact is, as a detective you have to take lives sometimes to preserve others' lives. Think of it this way. How would you feel if it was Bartowski or his wife had gotten killed instead?" Shawn actually thought about it and he could say he would have felt 1000 times worse. Carlton continued. "You don't have to be ok with killing, but it is better than the alternative." With that, Carlton climbed in his car they had retrieved from Henry's house before going to the hospital, and headed home.

Gus and Shawn watched him pull away, dumbstruck that Carlton seemed to actually care how Shawn felt. "You know that was a once in a lifetime thing right?" Gus commented as both of them got in the Blueberry. Shawn had been in no condition to drive after the warehouse, so the Psychmobile was left at his dad's for now.

"Once in an eternity for us buddy."

"You know that's right." Gus started driving to Shawn's apartment. "Is it ok if I crash on your couch? I'm too beat to drive home tonight."

Shawn knew Gus was only making an excuse to stay over to keep an eye on him, but it felt good that his friend cared. "Sure, I have a bed that I don't use…much."

Gus didn't want to think about what the bed was used for. "I'll take the couch." He said simply.

Shrugging, Shawn said, "Your loss." He was secretly glad he and Gus could still bicker. It was one of the only things in his life that felt normal. He almost wanted to mention that Gus didn't have to worry about sleeping on the bed. He and Juliet hadn't been alone in weeks except in his car driving to their date that night. "And what a crap-tastic day it turned out to be." Shawn grumbled and wondered if Juliet would even want to look at him anymore after what he did at the warehouse.

Brooding all the way back to his apartment he gave superficial banter and goodnights to Gus before collapsing into his freezer. Still thinking about Juliet and how he would do anything to protect her, he started to wonder if that included having to protect her from himself.

* * *

**END NOTES: I tried to get across that even though no one blames Shawn for what happened. He is taking it really hard and feeling like a failure for not getting everyone out unhurt. **


	16. New Developments and Old Flames

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks for the reviews guys. A lot of questions are answered in this chapter so be ready :D**

* * *

**Chapter 16- New Developments and Old Flames**

Carlton Lassiter glared into the interrogation room. His two suspects sat cuffed to the table. One was cocky, asking when they could get lunch. The other hung his head with intermittent glares at his partner. "HEY! We've been in here for hours! When are we going to get some food! You can't do this to us!" Nathan Treger screamed and banged his manacles on the table.

Glancing to the detective beside him Carlton nodded and headed into the room. The lawyers of the two _former_ BCA agents had insisted that another city send over a detective in order to make sure Carlton did not violate their client's rights. With all the conflict of interest with this case and the Santa Barbara Police Department, their Lawyer was afraid of retribution and unfair treatment… with good reason. Fortunately for the SBPD, Mick St. John was already in town, and is a consultant for the LAPD which satisfied any and all stipulations for questioning the men.

Nathan glanced up and paled as Carlton walked through the door. He looked desperately at Mick. "Oh hell no! Get him out of here! He's a vampire! He'll kill us all!"

As the young man continued to cause a scene Mick turned to Carlton and whispered, "What did you do to that guy?"

"He caught me on a bad day, but Spencer is the one that punched him into a wall."

After widening his eyes at Carlton dramatically and mouthing _WOW_, Mick turned and confronted the pair. "So, Mr. Treger, can I call you Nathan? You say that Detective Lassiter here is a vampire?"

Nathan opened his mouth but Gerald stomped on his foot hard, effectively shutting him up. "Who the hell are you?" Gerald glared at Mick suspiciously.

"I'm Mick St. John. Private investigator and consultant for the LAPD. Your lawyer requested a third party be present for safety sake."

Gerald shook his head. "Bull. You two know each other. Unlike dipshit over here I've been an agent for 20 years. I wasn't born yesterday."

Carlton shrugged, seemingly unfazed by their uncooperative attitudes. "Care to go with plan B?"

Mick smirked, "I always liked that plan better."

Both vampire's eyes turned white and fangs grew. Their backs were to the two way mirror so if anyone was watching they wouldn't be able to tell a thing was going on besides an intense interrogation. Carlton had to admit the Sheriff's Department's interrogation room layout was a bit better than the SBPDs had been.

Gerald tried getting as far away from them as possible, which wasn't far since he was anchored to a table which was also anchored to the cement floor. Nathan screamed and kept pulling desperately on the cuffs repeating, "Shit no, no no no!"

It was an hour and a half before Carlton and Mick were done with them. Basically they told them that if they didn't confess to the other arsons they wouldn't just get life in prison, they would be killed and their bodies burned to cinders, one extremity at a time. Gerald had signed the confession first. He was the one with the family. Life in prison was better than dead any day, but even though California had the death penalty he would still get years with his family if it came to that. Secretly though, Gerald believed he deserved everything they threw at him.

The younger man was harder to crack, but maybe it was because he already had. Nathan had yelled and screamed for someone to help him. When Carlton first met Nathan he had seemed cocky, secure, and arrogant, but apparently what he did caught up to his conscience as well and he couldn't take it. He had fainted at one point, but when he woke up the vampires were still there. Sobbing, he finally signed the confession.

As they solemnly exited the interrogation room, Mick turned to Carlton and asked, "How is Shawn doing?" It had been a couple days since Lance was killed and Mick had really had a chance to talk to him since the day after it happened, when Shawn said farewell to everyone from Carmichael industries with promises to visit them sometime soon. Mick and Beth had hung around, volunteering to help with the cleanup at the ruined SPBD and their temporary relocation to the Santa Barbara Sheriff's department across town. It was definitely crowded but considering the circumstances no one at the sheriff's office was complaining about their new guests.

"Spencer has been at the hospital with O'Hara and his father. He hasn't left their side much but at least O'Hara is getting out today…Hey watch it!" Carlton almost ran into a secretary who was trying to haul a bunch of papers across the station. Carlton found it weird that he actually had to watch where he was going. Usually he would just talk and go. Years of familiarity with the SBPD were the cause of that. The Sheriff's office was nice but he still had to get used to the fact they were going to be here for a while. "He's been pretty quiet about what happened. Once he's finally left her side I'll talk to O'Hara about it. She might be able to get through to him."

Mick understood and he was sure Carlton did too. Killing was never easy, especially your first one. "I'm going to head back to the hospital to pick up Beth. We have to get back to LA, Beth's boss needs her to come in today."

Once they got to Carlton's make shift desk, they looked up and caught Karen's eye as she passed. The bags under her eyes showed the dedication she had shown over the past few days and if anyone had ever doubted the decision to make her chief, they weren't anymore. Karen nodded at them and continued on her way. "I'm going to have to let her know about the confessions. She'll want to hear about it as soon as possible." Carlton turned to Mick and shook his hand. "Thanks for everything."

"Take care of yourself." Mick returned the handshake and hurried out the door.

Carlton grabbed all the paperwork he would need and followed Karen's path to the back rooms and her temporary office. He figured keeping things as normal as he could between them would soften the psychological blow of everything that had happened. He was actually still dealing with it himself. One moment everything made sense and then faster than he could draw his gun, everything he knew about the world changed. Now he had more to protect than just the citizens of Santa Barbara, he had to protect a secret that could expose an entire species if he wasn't careful. Shaking the negative thoughts away he focused on the case and the news he had for his boss, the news was good and just happened to include his most favorite phrase in the English language. _"Justice was served."_

* * *

"Now Ms. O'Hara, please come back if your headaches continue or get suddenly worse and be sure to..." The doctor was cut off by Juliet who was very ready to get out of the hospital.

"I know what to look for doctor, thank you but I really want to get home." She usually never had a problem with staying in hospitals but with Henry Spencer as her roommate and Shawn practically spending 24 hours a day at her side she was sure she would be less exhausted if they just let her go home. There was only so many reassurances that she could give to the Spencer men that she was alright, especially since Henry was worse off than she was. Blood loss, multiple contusions, Henry Spencer was the definition of a train wreck. "He might actually get some rest himself without Shawn here." Juliet mused.

Beth had been a nice change of pace when she visited after helping at the ruined SBPD with Mick. It was nice to be able to chat about girl things for a while, things that kept her mind off what had happened to her. Unfortunately her boyfriend had picked her up a couple hours ago though so it was just back to Shawn, Henry and her thoughts.

The doctor handed her the discharge papers. "Alright then. You take care and good luck officer."

After the doctor left Juliet stood. Shawn was already at her side making sure she didn't fall. "Whoa Jules, careful."

"Shawn, I'm fine." She smiled reassuringly at Shawn before turning to Henry. "I'll see you later roomie."

Henry gave her a weak smile. "Take care of him."

Shawn gave his father an indignant look. "Aren't I supposed to be taking care of her?"

"If you say so kid." Henry waved a dismissing hand in his son's direction, causing the younger Spencer to grumble as he got Juliet into the wheelchair by her bed. She didn't really need it but it was hospital protocol.

Shawn put his hand on his dad's arm. "I'll be back to see you later on. I just want to get Jules settled in." His dad nodded and the pair left.

Henry watched them go and waited a few minutes before using the room phone to get a hold of the nurse. "Yeah, it's Henry Spencer. You can tell her they're gone." Henry waited another minute before Karen walked in looking troubled. Henry raised the bed and folded his arms over his chest. "So, you said you wanted to talk about Shawn..."

* * *

The silence was deafening in Shawn's car as he drove his girlfriend to her house. He had been quite the Chatty Cathy when it came to being in the hospital, but it was as much to keep his mind off things as to entertain everyone else. Once it was just Juliet and him though, he knew she would pick up that something was wrong if he babbled so he kept quiet. Juliet stared out the window, Shawn drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Each doing little things to keep their minds occupied during the drive to her house.

Minutes later they were finally walking into Juliet's living room. Shawn dropped the hospital bags with her old clothes in them on the couch and sighed. "So, good to be home huh?"

"Yeah it really is." Juliet replied. She approached Shawn and went to give him a kiss. She actually was very relieved to be home and alone with her man.

Shawn closed his eyes and briefly enjoyed the kiss. He had wanted this for weeks but he couldn't let himself do this right now, he had some things to say before he lost his nerve. Breaking away from the kiss, he took Juliet gently by the shoulders to look her in the face. He saw the hurt in her eyes. He had never pulled away from a kiss before. "Jules I... we can't do this right now."

"What are you talking about Shawn?" Juliet backed up a little, worried at his tone.

Shawn rubbed his lip and started to pace. "You shouldn't want to be with me. If you were smart you would run the other way screaming when I'm around."

Juliet finally understood the silence in the car. Shawn had been brooding, which was never a good thing. She moved to comfort him but Shawn held up his hands to keep her at bay. "It's my fault Jules. My fault you got hurt, my fault he went after my dad, and I killed a guy Jules..." Shawn looked shocked at his own words. It was the first time he actually admitted out loud that he had killed someone. "I can't be around you guys without causing you pain. All I have done since becoming a vampire is cause you pain." Sitting down on the couch he buried his face in his hands. "Mick said at most I have another 15 years before I have to leave, and only if I start dying my hair gray at some point. Lassie could probably stay longer because his hair is already going gray but his life here will be over then too."

Juliet sat by Shawn but this time he didn't move away, he leaned into her. He wasn't quite crying but if his sniffles were any indicator he was getting really close and trying hard not to. "I was used to screwing up my own life Jules, and now I screwed up everyone else's. I mean, look at your poor wrist..." He gently touched her hard cast. The doctors realized just a brace was no longer going to work with how bad it was broken. "I tried to make it a nice night for us Jules. Tried to fix things and look what happened."

Juliet did the time tested move of grabbing Shawn's chin and getting him to look at her. "Listen to me Shawn. Lance is responsible for everything. You saved all our lives and outsmarted a three hundred year old vampire in the process." She witnessed everything that happened in that warehouse from her vantage point by the door. Morgan had told her to get back and she had. She saw Shawn charge and decapitate the vampire who, seconds before, was choking Chuck. After he stopped and turned around, Shawn had looked at her and for a brief second she saw the worry and pain in his eyes. She didn't think anyone else saw it, they were too busy watching the head rolling away from the body. She saw the same pain and worry now. Here was a care free guy who all of a sudden had so much burden put on him because of others' cruelty.

"I'm not happy that you lied to me though." Shawn tried to look away at that statement but Juliet held his face towards her. "I need you to be honest with me if we are going to make this work. We both have to deal with the fact that you changed. It will be hard, and it won't be perfect but I'm willing to try… if you are."

Shawn snorted and shook his head. "How is it that you are always so much smarter than me?" Juliet smiled widely at the compliment. He wiped his face and groaned. "God I must be the most horrible boyfriend in the world. Here you are comforting me after what that son of a bitch did to you."

"Just being able to actually spend time with you is comfort enough." She was still shaky over the incident. It had been incredibly terrifying but Beth had her talk through it a bit and it ended up helping a lot.

Shawn smirked at her statement, but was caught off guard when Juliet leaned in and kissed him. This time he didn't move away but gently cupped her face to feel her soft skin. Their lips finally parted and Juliet gave Shawn a sly smile. "So should I be jealous?"

"What?" Shawn didn't know what she was talking about. "Jealous?"

Juliet was still smiling and her blue eyes twinkling with mirth, "Oh, I was just making sure Gus wasn't going to come between us, being your boyfriend and all. Is he a better kisser than me?"

Blushing, Shawn turned away. "I uh... that was just to save his life. If Lance would have known..." Juliet put a finger to Shawn's lips to stop him from talking then leaned in and pushed him farther down into the couch, knocking the plastic hospital bags out of the way in the process. Juliet nuzzled his neck and Shawn sniffed deeply, catching her scent. They hadn't been this intimate in a long time and both missed it terribly.

Shawn growled and, being careful of Juliet's cast, picked her up easily and hauled her into the bedroom. His eyes had long since turned white. During the training, Mick had tried to explain to them what caused it. "_There are four Fs that could get your predatory nature to surface; Fight, Flight, Feed and ... well you know."_

Placing her gently down on the sheets, Shawn slowly crawled up the bed to face her. Reaching her middle, he put his hands on her hips and pulled up her shirt so he could kiss her bare stomach. He knew how ticklish she was and wanted to tease her a bit. He bent closer and puckered his lips. As they touched Juliet's skin, a faint hum caught his attention. Popping his head up Shawn looked at his girlfriend hoping he was just hearing things. "Did you say something Jules?"

"No..." Juliet started to sit up but Shawn motioned for her to lie down again.

He put his ear to her stomach, listened for a few seconds and gasped. "Oh no, oh God... Jules!" Shawn jumped up and started wildly pacing, back and forth at the foot of the bed. "Oh man, this isn't happening how did I not notice before well we haven't been alone in forever but I have a lot on my plate YOU have a lot on your plate was it that night in the park it was just the once without protection ya know there's no way it could happen after just the once it isn't statistically possible and I am good with statistics can spout them off like nobody's business like did you know that it takes four cents to make an American bill no matter how much its worth and girls have more taste buds than guys do which makes me wonder if blood tastes better to female vampires maybe I should find one sometime and ask them but I don't think I know any female vampires or would want to know them and maybe..."

Juliet's eyes widened. She had a feeling she was getting an unfiltered glimpse into the inner workings of Shawn's mind, and he was panicking about something having to do with her. She got off the bed and stood in front of him, "Stop!" She placed her hands on his shoulders to physically stop his pacing. "What is wrong Shawn? What did you hear?"

Shawn wrung his hands and gave her a guilty look. "Jules... I think you're pregnant."

* * *

Gus eased into his computer chair at the Psych office. After a very long and stressful couple of days he was happy to be able to sit and relax. It was getting to be late afternoon and he had just come from a day of helping the fire department clean up the SBPD. He had been impressed with the support the city was giving the officers and people involved with the cleanup. Antonio's had even decided to cater for the volunteers and Gus was stuffed to the gills with five star cuisines.

It seemed that everyone was off doing their own thing tonight. Shawn had taken Juliet home a couple hours before and probably wouldn't be back to the office tonight, so he had some time to get in some of the TiVoed American Duos while going over the bills. Gus had just turned on the TV when someone knocked on the door. Feeling a bit annoyed but more curious as to who it could be he looked out the window. His eyes landed on an exotic and gorgeous woman with wavy brown hair, natural lightly tanned skin, and long black eyelashes. She had a worried expression which tugged at Gus' heartstrings.

Gus was never one to say no to a damsel in distress, or any damsel for that matter so he opened the door and greeted his guest. "Hello... Burton Guster, you can call me Gus. How can I help you?"

The woman looked a little unsure at first, but she thought Gus was a bit cute so she offered her hand. "I was looking for Shawn Spencer, is he here?"

Gus' face fell a little bit. "Of course you're looking for _Shawn_." They were always looking for Shawn but Gus supposed he should be used to it by now. "Come in, Shawn isn't here right now but I am his business partner. Maybe there is something I could help you with."

She entered the office and looked around. It was a bit of organized chaos. One side was organized, the other was chaos. Just by looking at Gus she could tell which side was his. The office smelled vaguely of lavender, which was her favorite scent and wondered if Gus was the one responsible. "Nice place." She said simply.

Smiling, Gus led her to the couch. With her strapless dress he noticed a rather pretty tattoo on her left shoulder that looked like a Fleur de Lis. He sat down in his own chair across from her, "Thank you… I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

Sitting down she answered. "Coraline Duvall."

Gus blinked, "Why does that name sound so familiar?" He suddenly wished Shawn were there. "He might not remember where he puts the TV remote, but he never forgets a face." Breaking away from his inner monologue he figured if it were all that important he would remember himself. "So, Coraline… that is a beautiful name." He took her hand and kissed it, surprised that she actually let him. "What can I help you with?"

Crossing her legs she stated, "I need to talk to him about some of the events that happened in the last few days."

Nodding as if finally getting it, Gus walked over to his desk and grabbed PSYCH business card. "Ooooohhh… you are a reporter. Shawn is usually here during our normal business hours but recent events have taken precedence as you can imagine." He thought that maybe he could put his personal number on the back of the card, in case she needed it for anything.

Shaking her head frustrated she said, "I'm not a reporter. I was talking about Cynthia Davis and what she left you."

His danger sense finally kicking in, Gus slowly and started to get up and move away from her. The only people that knew about what Cynthia gave them had been vampires out to kill them. Now he _really_ wished Shawn was here. "Well um, Coraline, I just have to go get something outside real quick. I'll be right back." He spun around, started screaming and running for the back door but Coraline already beat him there, confirming Gus' fear that she was a vampire. "Damn it! Why do I always fall for the crazies?" Gus berated himself.

Coraline held her hands out in a placating gesture. It was obvious that he knew about their kind... and had not had pleasant experiences. Considering that he may have met her brother, she didn't blame him. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to ask you about the cure."

"You and every other vampire!" Gus shouted and lunged for the desk where he grabbed a sharpened pencil, brandishing it like a sword. "Stay back! Shawn is a vampire too, and he doesn't take kindly to people hurting his best friend! So... BACK!"

"At least let me explain." The pleading in her voice got through Gus' resolve and he lowered his pencil but still held it between them. "Cynthia was my best friend. She came to you guys for help right before she died, and I am the one who sent her here." Coraline gave a dignified sniff, trying to hide her sadness. "Josef Kostan had mentioned your business when I went to him for help after Lance burned our house down. I told Cynthia about it and she called me right before she went in. Next thing I know, she is dead."

Finally getting the answer to why Cynthia had picked them to go to in the first place, Gus realized who the vampire in front of him was. "You're Mick's ex-wife." She nodded. "Coraline! I knew I heard that name somewhere." Gus mentally beat himself up for not remembering. "You were the one who made the cure."

Coraline nodded, "Cynthia and I had been trying for years to perfect a permanent cure. Lance found us a few years ago and Mick got mixed up in family business. Lance was going to kill him if I didn't give myself up." She grimaced at the memory. "Cynthia intercepted us before Lance could get me out of the state. We hid for a while, making sure Lance couldn't find us, before we started recruiting."

Gus gave her a puzzled look. "Recruiting who?"

She shrugged. "Other vampires who could help us and wanted the cure, or were sympathetic to our cause. We knew we would get unwanted attention if we set up a large shop so we had branches, and each branch did its own research for the cure and reported findings and experiments back to us."

"You mean vampires like Aaron Lonsdale." Gus replied dryly. He had heard Shawn talking about how he had been some kind of doctor before he had gone insane.

Coraline was taken aback. "How do you know that name?"

Gus crossed his arms. "How about you tell me about him, then I'll see if I trust you enough to tell how I know."

Far from affronted, Coraline was amused at Gus' stubbornness. "Aaron Lonsdale was the doctor that did the trials for each cure attempt. We would send him a sample and he would inject rogues to see if it worked. The last batch worked perfectly and two days after he told us that, he was killed in an explosion set by Lance. Cynthia and I realized he had slowly been taking out others who knew about the cure and we tried to get as many of them into hiding as possible but by then it was almost too late. Lance found us a few weeks after and that is when he destroyed our house, and killed my best friend."

Gus started to sniffle. He couldn't even fathom how he would feel if he lost Shawn, but over the last couple weeks he had come close. Coraline gave him a puzzled look at the emotional display but he waved her off. "I'm fine, just give me a second." Composing himself he reached in the desk drawer and pulled out an empty syringe, which had previously held the cure. "We used it on Lance to kill him, but I kept it just in case there were trace amounts that could be used to make more." He walked up and handed her the small object. "I'm sorry but we had no other choice."

Coraline took the syringe and nodded sadly. "I might be able to do something with it, thank you for saving this at least. I know I put you in a bad situation by getting you mixed up in everything and for that, I am sorry." She put a hand on his arm in a show of compassion. "So, your turn. How do you know about Aaron?"

Gus squirmed. He had said he would tell if he trusted her, he wasn't as good at lying as Shawn was so he would have to tell. "Aaron didn't die in the fire. He escaped and started to turn people in hospitals with blood bags, and just leaving them. Shawn was one of them."

Coraline almost gasped. She couldn't believe Aaron would be that irresponsible. When She knew him he was a respected physician and geneticist. "He abandoned them?"

Gus shook his head. "For some reason he got attached to Shawn and he kidnapped him right out of the hospital. He was put to death for making rogues a week ago. Shawn mentioned he went loopy after his family died. Something about being able to feel fledgling's pain. We don't know much other than what your brother said while holding another vampire hostage." Coraline took a seat in Shawn's chair and crossed her legs. Gus looked at them with an appreciative expression before realizing that Coraline was talking again.

"There are many vampire lines but some of the oldest and strongest have developed some abilities that make them different." Coraline explained.

"Different how?" Gus asked concerned.

"Well," She started, "Feeling their fledgling's pain is one thing. Aaron's line can also feel strong emotions of people around them. The line is extremely empathetic which is why Aaron was such a good doctor. How well they can do it depends on the strength of the vampire."

Gus tried to think back and realized that Shawn had been extra emotional lately, but with everything going on he had chalked it up to being stressed. His friend's reaction after Lance had questioned him was extremely unnerving at the time but Shawn may have just been getting bad vibes off of the man and needed to deal with them. Leaning back in his chair Gus stated, "Shawn is going to want to know this, but he needs some rest tonight. He's had a long week." Getting an idea he asked, "Do you have a phone number we can call you at later?" Gus handed her the pencil and some paper.

She slowly smiled and started writing. "Already asking for my number, should I be flattered?" Gus' eyes widened as she put the number in his hand. "I'll give you a call tomorrow too. Just do me a favor, don't tell Mick you saw me."

Furrowing his brow, Gus asked "Why? He is worried that you might be dead."

A sad look crossed Coraline's features. "I messed up with Mick, I was a lot younger and it didn't work out. Plus, Beth would not like it. We have a history and it isn't the best."

Nodding in understanding Gus waved the number. "Thanks a lot. I really am sorry about the cure. If you need any help with it let me know." He puffed out his chest proudly. "I am a pharmaceutical salesman and I know a lot about chemistry."

"I may just do that." She turned to walk out but stopped. "You know, it is still early for me. Did you want to go get some coffee?"

He was hesitant at first, but as soon as she smiled at him, his resolve crumbled. Going for a cup of coffee wouldn't hurt. "That would be nice." Grabbing his coat, Gus led her out the door. "By the way, did you hear about Pluto?"

* * *

Shawn knocked on the door in front of him marked with a temporary plaque, _Chief Karen Vick_. It was awkward for him because he was so used to the wood accented SBPD and glass enclosure that the Chief used to inhabit. The Sheriff's department was a rather gray building with a lot of marble and metal. It wasn't familiar or comfortable for him to be here, but he had to come because Karen had requested it.

As he waited for her to answer his knock, he reflected on the last couple days. They had been a blur of activity for Shawn. He and Juliet had made a doctor's appointment to confirm their suspicions of her being pregnant. She was six weeks along. The doctor had asked how she had missed that she hadn't had her period. Juliet had stated that she had just been really occupied the last couple of weeks and hadn't noticed.

When the doctor made the official announcement they had looked at each other in silence for a long time. Of course looking at each other, despite Shawn being a master at staring contests, caused both of them to start to giggle. The giggles eventually turned to all out, breath stealing laughter. The doctor eventually left them alone to, what he guessed was celebrate but eventually the laughter died down and the tears started. When Mick had told him that he wasn't able to have children anymore, he had been on the fence about how he felt about it, but now that he knew he was going to be a father, everything changed.

When Shawn had burst into Psych to give Gus the good news, he found out that Coraline had visited him. Shawn went instantly into protective mode, and it had taken a lot of convincing but she had explained a few things about what was going on. Enough at least to have him trust she was being honest with them. When Shawn had finally gotten out what had brought him to the office Gus yelled, "Stop playing Shawn! Really?" and an impromptu jump and hug session commenced. It took Coraline clearing her throat for them to realize there was someone else in the room. Gus looked a bit more embarassed than he usually would have, and that fact didn't escape Shawn's attention, not much did.

From watching them interact, Shawn picked up a lot on both Coraline and Gus' body language and was able to tell they were attracted to each other. Which was a complication in and of itself but Shawn knew Gus was a grown man and could make his own decisions when it came to women…so he figured he would put off the vetting at least until next week. Shawn dreaded the day when Mick would find out about it though. He called "Not it." And it was now Gus' problem.

Once Shawn told his dad about the pregnancy, he expected a lecture. Some kind of something saying how irresponsible he was for getting Juliet knocked up. He wasn't expecting the tinkle that entered his dad's eye, like a lost hope had been restored. Shawn left the hospital room after only a few minutes to avoid any uncomfortable emotional moments between them. He would have to call his mother and let her know as well, but that also entailed letting her know about him being a vampire, which he really didn't want to do over the phone.

"Come in!" Karen's voice yelled through the closed door and brought him out of his thoughts.

Shawn opened the door and entered. "You wanted to see me Chief?"

"Yes Mr. Spencer, have a seat." Shawn sat down and she continued. "I heard the news. Congratulations are in order."

Blushing Shawn brushed it off. "I wouldn't be celebrating yet Chief. My kid may be worse than I was around here…er you know, at the station." Shawn corrected himself. Slips like that were common occurrences from the former SBPD inhabitants. It was still sinking in for a lot of them, Shawn included.

Karen raised her eyebrows and smiled, "I just wanted to let you know if you needed anything, advice, baby clothes, I will be happy to help."

"Thanks a lot Chief. I'll need all the help I can get." Shawn was touched at the gesture but he was sure that wasn't all she asked him here for. "So, what brings me here? Do you have a case for your psychic or did you just want to see my handsome mug?"

Karen rose and walked over to Shawn deliberately and slowly. His eyes narrowed, getting the feeling that something was up with her. "I just had a question." She said slyly.

"A question?" The expression on Karen's face was making him wish he was psychic so he could tell what she was thinking.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me something." She stood in front of Shawn, leaned on her desk, folded her arms and asked a question that threw Shawn for the biggest loop of his life. "Shawn, could you tell me how many hats are in the station?"

* * *

**END NOTES: Ooooo, why would the Chief be asking that question? :D**

**And yes, after a lot of thought. I did it, they are having a baby! **


	17. Ashes of the Fallen

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Last chapter folks! I wanted to thank everyone for their views and reviews. I really had fun writing this story and hope to entertain you just as much with the next installment.**

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**Chapter 17- Ashes of the Fallen**

**Santa Barbara 2006**

Karen heard a knock on her office door. She hadn't been expecting anyone for an appointment for another 20 minutes, so she was a little perturbed at the unexpected interruption. She was just finishing up her own witness statement from the McCallum case, having been there to see the man's confession herself. She shook her head sadly and looked at her swollen stomach. "How could someone kill their own child?" She wondered.

Another knock reminded her of her unplanned guest. "Come in." She called out, not looking up from her paper.

The door opened and the gruff voice of Henry Spencer finally got her attention away from her work. "Hello Karen."

Karen had not seen Henry Spencer in years. She heard he had moved back from Miami about a little while ago but had not gotten around to calling him to catch up. He had gotten a little heavier and a lot balder but she kept her observations to herself. If she didn't know him, she would have found it strange he was here just a few minutes before her appointment. Which just happened to be with his son Shawn. "Henry Spencer, I can't say I am too surprised. What brings you down here?"

Resisting the urge to say, "_My idiot son_." Henry sat down and sighed. "Look Karen, I know about Shawn and what he told you."

Karen's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What he told us?" She knew what he was talking about but she wanted to hear him say it.

"His whole…" Henry twirled his finger by his head, "Psychic thing."

Karen nodded, her theory confirmed. "Yes, he did tell us that. However, if he is not psychic he could be charged with fraud and hindering a police investigation since he was involved in the McCallum case." She leaned forward and folded her hands on her desk. "So if you are here to tell me that your son was lying about being psychic, I just want you to be aware of the consequences."

Henry took a deep breath and nodded. "Karen, both you and I know he isn't psychic. So we can both cut the crap and get down to business."

"Down to business?" Karen now had no idea what Henry was talking about.

"There are a few things you need to know about Shawn before you make your decision."

Raising an eyebrow, Karen leaned back in her chair. "Such as?"

"He is probably the best detective you will ever find." Henry stated simply.

Karen rolled her eyes, "Look Henry, all parents think their child is the best at…"

"I am not saying this because he is my kid." Henry interrupted her. "I'm saying it because if you are going to hire him, you have to know what he is capable of."

"You are being more cryptic for my liking. I have a lot of work ahead of me Henry so I suggest you start getting to the point quickly." Karen was definitely getting impatient.

"My son has been trained as a detective by me since he was a baby. Everything he would need to know I taught him and he is damn good. Better than even I was, but the problem is…I pushed him too far." The pain in Henry's features was very evident. "He started to rebel and I got angry. Years of training were wasted when he stole that damn car. In the end, I drove my son away…but he still had the spark in him."

Karen's brow scrunched as she thought about what Henry was getting at. "The tips he calls in."

Henry nodded. "I am put in a situation here Karen. On one hand, my son is claiming to be a psychic but is solving crimes and working with the police. On the other hand, I have a son who is a trained detective, refusing to become a cop because it is too confining for him." Karen was starting to see Henry's dilemma. "So you have to ask yourself, what is the bigger evil; putting to waste what could be a valuable asset to the department or playing along with a charade that gives Shawn enough leeway to do what he has to do to save lives."

"You are asking me to turn a blind eye to the lie and focus on the results Shawn brings in?" Karen nut-shelled.

"If Shawn isn't an idiot and doesn't admit to not being psychic, there is nothing anyone can do to prove he isn't, so he can't be charged for anything." Henry pointed out.

Sighing, Karen hoped she wouldn't regret the decision when it came back to bite her in the ass. "Ok Henry, I'll give him a chance. BUT if he screws up or wastes my department's time I am not going to put up with it. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." Henry smiled before his expression turned serious. "You can't tell him you know Karen. If he knows that you know that he's not telling the truth about being psychic he may not stick around."

Karen decided to take Henry at his word and promised not to tell Shawn. "We have to come up with a plan in case this all blows up in our faces." She stated wryly.

Henry thought for a moment. "Eighteen is the legal age of accountability. We could say he was eighteen when he got his...powers or whatever. That way we are covered and Gus would be too."

"_Do not_ tell me how he does it either. What I saw him do can't be explained by regular detective work and I want some kind of plausible deniability on this myself." Karen smirked.

Henry huffed out a breath, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway."

Nodding, Karen moved to stand, " Alright Henry we have a deal..." Karen started as Shawn burst in the office.

"There she is!" Shawn exclaimed while giving Karen a smug smile.

Surprised and affronted Shawn would just waltz into her office she gave him an angry look. "Don't ever walk into my office without knocking!"

Shawn's face fell and he was momentarily surprised at the chief's anger. "I'm sorry, I got excited."

As they bantered back and forth briefly, Henry stood and all traces of swagger left Shawn's mannerisms. Karen thought it was almost amusing how fast this confident and cocky man seemed to wither in his father's presence, thinking he had just given away his secret. They exchanged awkward greetings and the older man walked away with a self-satisfied look.

Smiling Karen pointed to the now unoccupied chair. "Have a seat..."

* * *

**Present:**

"Excuse me?" Shawn's eyes widened in surprise at the Chief's words.

"I asked you how many hats were in the station Mr. Spencer. Can you tell me or not?" Karen's smug smile was back. She had finally asked Henry what Shawn could do. Six years before she had refused to have him tell her, but when she finally asked all he did was tell her to ask his son, "How many hats?" She didn't understand why, but Shawn's reaction to the question was sheer panic.

Shawn licked his lips and tried to stay calm. He figured this had to be some kind of test. A test to see what he could really do, or a trick to prove he wasn't psychic... he didn't know. Shawn listened. Her heart was going faster than normal, meaning she was bluffing, or nervous. Still no help there. "What am I going to do?" He thought confused.

Karen sagged against the desk after a minute of silence and worried looks. She didn't see how whatever he was hiding could be worse than being a vampire. "Look Mr. Spencer, I just..."

"Eight." Shawn blurted. Karen blinked; she was still not getting the significance of Shawn knowing how many hats are in the station. Her question was answered when he put his hand to his head and closed his eyes. "Four police hats, mostly on desks, two belong to captains. One is on the perp in the hallway, it's a basic red and white truckers hat. One was a brown FedEx hat on the FedEx guy who was delivering more office supplies." Shawn temporarily opened his eyes. "He may have left already so don't quote me too much on that one but I still think I can hear the squeaking dollie wheels." Closing his eyes again he continued, "One was denim with a flower on it on an older lady who was here to complain about her neighbor's loud dog. The last one is the straw hat on your hula girl in the corner there." Shawn opened his eyes and looked at Karen like a kid who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Karen pushed away from the desk and hurried out the door. Spotting almost all of them, except the FedEx... until he rounded the corner with an empty dolly. "How in the world?" She voiced turning around and heading back in the office. Walking in front of Shawn she noticed his head was facing down and he refused to look at her. "Shawn, what exactly was that?"

"Pardon the pun, but that stuff was old hat, been doing it for years." Shawn gave a mirth filled chuckle. "I don't know who told you but I figured if I tell you the truth now I won't get so much jail time later." He was going to be a father, he wondered how much he was going to miss because someone messed up and told his secret. "How do vampires survive in jail?" He asked himself. Shawn didn't expect Karen to make special considerations for him, it would make her look like she played favorites and he wouldn't do that to her. He swallowed and looked up.

Karen gasped and saw his eyes were white. He didn't look angry though. He looked scared. She knelt down to face him. She hesitated for a moment before grabbing his hand in a motherly fashion. "Shawn, your dad told me you weren't psychic after the McCallum case. That's not what this is about."

Shawn looked at Karen in stunned disbelief. "You already knew?!" She nodded with a small smile. Shawn took his hand out of hers and stood up. He opened his mouth to speak but was unable to get any words out. He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose before blurting, "All that stuff I did to try to convince you I was psychic... you just let me believe..." Shawn growled in frustration. "I _dazzled and stretched_ for you!"

Doing her best to keep a straight face Karen replied "Yes, you did the dazzle and stretch, then I went home and laughed harder than I had in a long time."

"Well I am glad that you and my dad had a nice laugh at my expense!" Now Shawn was getting upset.

Karen's expression turned serious. "We didn't do it to laugh at you Shawn. We did it to give you an opportunity to prove yourself, and you have. Many times over. Why do you think I kept hiring you?"

He huffed. "I can't believe you guys lied to me for six years."

Walking up to Shawn, Karen looked at him. He was still hurt and angry but she hoped she was able to teach him a lesson with this. "Not to be harsh right now Shawn... but the way you are feeling right now, is how everyone else is going to feel when they eventually learn that _you _have been lying to them for six years. Think about that."

Shawn ran a hand through his hair, "Talk about putting things into perspective." His smirk returned and he walked up to the desk, picking up the hula girl with the straw hat. "So I guess the old man told you to ask me that question?" He took the hat off the hula girl and put it on his finger, wiggling it back and forth.

"He didn't tell me why though. For the sake of deniability I wanted to make sure I didn't know exactly how you do what you do." Karen explained. "So I finally asked him and he told me to ask about the hats."

Shawn stared at the straw hat for a few moments more, amusing himself with his dancing finger before putting it back. He turned to face Karen and sighed. "It's a combination of perfect memory and trained deduction. I inherited the eidetic memory but it was my father, who made me a perfect detective."

"You have an eidetic memory?" Karen looked puzzled. "I heard it was a myth."

"That's probably why my dad didn't straight out tell you. Easier to show you and have you believe me." As he spoke, Shawn thought of something, "Why all of a sudden did you ask my dad about this? Is it because of the vampire thing... do you not want me to work for you anymore?"

Karen pursed her lips. She had asked Henry outright if he thought Shawn's new condition would affect his work. The answer was a resounding yes from the elder Spencer. When he saw the defeated look Karen wore after his statement he explained his answer. Since Shawn had become a vampire, he had saved Juliet and Carlton twice, Henry once, and a whole precinct of cops all while pushing himself to the brink. Even though it had only been about two weeks, he had shown a lot of responsibility and maturity when it came to his decisions, more than Henry had seen in his son... well, ever. So he said being a vampire _would_ affect Shawn's work, but he said he could only imagine it would be for the better, and as always Shawn would deal. Karen had smiled at that.

"Shawn, from the day I hired you I knew you had a gift, it isn't exactly psychicness but it is just as impressive and useful." Karen felt the need to be honest with Shawn. "At first I put up with you initially because you got results and at that time I needed results. You weren't the only one with something to prove back then you know." She admitted quietly.

He knew the Mayor had never approved of Karen's appointment but at the time she was the only person available to be Interm Police Chief of the SBPD. It was by Shawn's direct intervention that she became the official Chief of Police after the Mayor's first choice was proven to be an adulterer. Even so, Shawn realized that Karen had been balancing precariously on an occupational cliff. The mayor had just been waiting for her to mess up so he could replace her. It had really been a perfect storm that pushed Shawn into creating Psych and sticking with a job that he loved doing.

"But then you ended up being right. Every time, and I realized when your father said you were a great detective that he was absolutely right. I started to trust you more and stood behind you as much as I did all my other detectives. Sometimes more so." Karen gave Shawn a hard look. "I am not going to fire you if that is what you are asking Shawn, but there are a few conditions I wanted to go through first before I hire you again."

Shawn was glad he wasn't going to get fired, he was even gladder now that he knew how much Karen trusted him. He figured he could return the favor by doing what she asked of him. "Ok, shoot."

Karen held up a finger. "First, you are going to get a legitimate investigator's license. That way you are covered if anything happens or comes up."

"Fine." He said defeated. "I will even frame it in teak and let you hang it on your wall."

"Mr. Spencer you are supposed to hang it on _your_ wall." Karen shook her head but was smiling inwardly. "Secondly, I need to know you are going to be in control of yourself. I cannot send you out knowing that you are going to be a loose cannon at the first sign of stress."

"I'll do my best. Jules and my dad were planning on helping me manage my new abilities. Once they are feeling better we'll get to it." Shawn admitted.

"Glad to hear it. There is only one last thing though…for the love of God, tell Lassiter the truth. Half the time he is distracted by trying to figure out how you do things. The least it could do is getting him to respect your process a bit more."

Shawn laughed hard. "Did you want to be around for that conversation? If not for the fact you get to see the look on his face but maybe for the fact you could help me when he tries to shoot me with silver."

Karen gave Shawn a sly look before ushering him towards the door. "You know me Mr. Spencer, I stand behind my detectives." Before Shawn could figure out which of them she was going to stand behind, she had already closed her office door and left him to wonder.

* * *

The air was filled with the sound of bagpipes. Shawn had always wondered where the idea for bagpipes had come from. It was such a weird instrument, and why they always had to have it at memorials was another mystery to him. He looked to his left as Carlton stood at attention. Shaded blue eyes found his and Carlton mumbled, "Stand still." Shawn went back to trying to remain in one place.

Two weeks after the SBPD bombing the city had a memorial service for the men and woman who died in the blast and the aftermath. It had been scheduled out enough so most of the injured officers were well enough to attend, which was good foresight on the Mayor's part in Shawn's opinion. A lot of emotional healing was going to be done today and those in attendance that had been injured were grateful they were able to make it to the ceremony.

They were currently doing a moment of silence after the Mayor had finished his speech. Shawn, however, couldn't fight his antsy nature. Bouncing in place he asked, "How much longer?" Carlton just sneered at him a bit and continued to watch the stage. He had been incredibly snippy towards Shawn since he had come clean with the detective and finally admitted to him that he wasn't psychic. Shawn figured Carlton was pissed at him but he hadn't noticed the Cheshire Cat grin that Carlton wore when he knew the fake psychic wasn't looking since he finally found out that he was right after all these years.

Despite having to stand in the shade next to Carlton off to the side of the hundred or so folding chairs sitting directly in the sun, Shawn wasn't in a bad mood. He noticed Juliet had looked over at him from her chair, he winked at her making her blush before she turned back to watch the stage. His eyes fell to her stomach and he closed his eyes, listening for the barely audible hum of heartbeat from his baby. A couple moments later, he opened his eyes and looked around, remembering he was supposed to be paying attention to the ceremony.

After the moment of silence, to everyone's surprise, the Mayor in a rare partnership with Karen decided to award Juliet, Henry, and Gus metals of valor for going above and beyond the call of duty by getting as many people in the station organized and out of the building during the crisis. Shawn was stunned and incredibly happy for them. When the three heroes took the stage, he showed his support by yelling, "That's my daddy!" and making sure to whistle and clap extra loud when Gus and Juliet received their metals.

After the cheers died down and the trio thanked the mayor and Chief, then took their seats. The mayor stepped forward again. "We have two more metals to give out today." Whispers broke out as he stepped away from the stand and motioned for Karen to step forward.

"The Metal of Honor is the highest award I can bestow on an officer in my employ." Karen paused for dramatic effect. "It is given only to those who have shown the highest form of bravery and selfless acts in the line of duty. The detectives who so rightfully deserve this honor, escaped capture while injured and rushed to the station to inform us of the bomb." Shawn and Carlton turned their heads towards each other slowly. Even with sunglasses on each could see the shock on the other's face.

Karen continued with her speech, "They are the reason many of us are still here and deserve to be recognized for their amazing acts. Please step forward Head Detective Carlton Lassiter and Head Psychic Detective Shawn Spencer." Applause erupted as both men walked disbelievingly up the stairs to the stage.

Though the men were usually attention hounds, they were surprisingly reserved as they stopped in front of the mayor. The man had never really liked Shawn and had almost gotten him permanently fired from consulting over a video tape of him searching a business for clues. Shawn could say after that, the feeling became mutual. "Mr. Spencer." The mayor greeted him curtly before shaking his hand, resisting the urge to squeeze down just a teenie bit.

After the Mayor extended the same courtesy to Carlton, albeit without the seething hatred part, Shawn took off his sunglasses and nudged Carlton, signaling him to do the same. It would be uncomfortable for them but the situation was worth it.

Karen could see their instant discomfort so she leaned in and whispered, "I'll try to make this brief." before addressing the audience again. "For saving the life of your partner and countless fellow police officers after escaping a hostage situation, the City of Santa Barbara awards you, Carlton Lassiter, the Metal of Honor." A loud cheer went up from the crowd.

The three people on the stage shared a knowing look. The "official" story was that Carlton had been kidnapped by the two BCA agents for getting too close to their operation, investigating the fires they had lit themselves.

Carlton face was solemn, as he stood up to say a few words. "I wish I could give each and every family member who lost a loved one to this heinous act a Metal of Honor, for being strong through your pain and making it here while we honor their sacrifice." Sniffs and more applause erupted after his speech, but he continued, "I also wanted to say that if anyone ever tries anything like this again I will personally rip out their…"

Karen jumped in and gave Carlton a look that clearly said _enough._ "Ok, thank you Detective…" Realizing he put his foot in his mouth, Carlton stepped back as Karen talked about Shawn. "Shawn Spencer, for selfless bravery, by assisting in the rescue of our Head Detective, warning your fellow officers of an imminent threat, and saving the life of the Santa Barbara Police Chief seconds before the bomb went off…" There were gasps at that statement. Many didn't know exactly what Shawn had done that day since most had seen him disappear shortly after arriving and warning everyone. "The City of Santa Barbara awards you the Metal of Honor." Through the applause Shawn heard his dad and Gus' whistles and couldn't miss Juliet's beaming smile.

He flashed them all a grin before walking up to the microphone for his few words which he hoped wouldn't be as awkward as Carlton's. Taking a deep breath Shawn started, "I don't deserve this. Not at all but…uh, I guess you think I do so thanks." He paused and looked at the metal, before continuing. "Thanks for always making me feel like I was a part of your team, and not just the baseball one." That got a few chuckles from the others on the team. "Even if I sometimes overthrow first base, you guys accept me and that makes us practically family." Shawn's expression became somber. "Two weeks ago, we lost some of that family to a senseless crime. Now more than ever, we need to be strong and support each other. Not all of us may get along, but in the end we have each other's back no matter what. That's what's important. That's what makes heroes." The applause was thunderous. Carlton practically stared open mouthed at the fairly eloquent speech that Shawn had given. Shawn gave a boisterous salute to the crowd before he and Carlton went back down the stairs, receiving handshakes from co-workers along the way.

Shawn fist bumped Gus on the way by and stopped next to his dad. "You proud of me yet old man?"

"I was proud of you when you actually wore something besides jeans and plaid to this thing." Henry replied sarcastically and Shawn rolled his eyes. Grasping Shawn around the shoulders Henry gave his son a comforting squeeze. "You did good kid"

Juliet smiled at the moment between father and son before turning to Carlton who had stopped to watch as well. "Well done partner." She beamed at him.

"You too O'Hara." Carlton glanced at her stomach. He had heard that Shawn had gotten her pregnant. At first he readied his gun and prepared to make good on his promise to shoot Shawn if he hurt his partner. Eventually he came to his senses and realized how lucky they had gotten. It would never happen again. Shawn and Juliet would never be able to have another child, just like Carlton would never be able to have children now. He had really wanted to have kids with Marlowe but he would just have to be happy with being "Uncle Carlton" as Juliet had already nicknamed him. "Spencer. Let's get back to our spot so they can finish with the ceremony."

Shawn gently shrugged off his Dad's arm and followed the other detective back to the shade. They both watched as five balloons were released into the air, commemorating each of their fallen comrades. Both had the same thought going through their mind as they watched the latex orbs float away on the breeze. They both thought about how many friends and family they were going to lose by living forever, how each one would be lost in time just like those balloons drifting off in the wind. Like Josef had told them, you can't take everyone with you.

* * *

"Gus, what do you think a good name for a girl would be?" Shawn asked as he messed around with one of the random toys on his desk.

His friend wasn't paying much attention to his ramblings. Gus was rushing and getting some papers together for their client that was showing up within the next ten minutes. "I don't know Shawn, maybe she should be called get off your ass and help me."

"Such a spoil sport." Shawn griped but got up and started picking up a bit. "So how are things with you and Mick's ex?"

"Stop calling her that! It's weird." Gus complained.

The teasing glint entered Shawn's eye and he said, "It's weird huh? I never took you for one who likes kinky Gus."

"You know what I meant Shawn! It's weird that you call her Mick's ex. Not that our relationship is weird. We're friends. That's all. Two adults who go out for coffee." As he said it Gus knew he had just given Shawn more ammo to use against him, but he could never resist correcting Shawn even when it made his situation worse.

Far from being amused, Shawn was actually concerned for Gus. He had heard how Mick talked about Coraline. There was a lot of bad blood there, no pun intended, and he was still having a hard time fully trusting her. Endlessly teasing Gus about it was just his way of showing he cared. "Buddy, just please promise me that you will be careful when you are around her."

"Alright I promise." Gus relented. He watched in amusement as Shawn sped through cleaning getting it done in half the time. "That is so not fair Shawn."

Shawn held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Hey man, it isn't my fault you don't have the moves."

Gus snorted. "Whatever Shawn, I have the moves." They continued cleaning in silence before Gus remembered something he was going to ask Shawn. "Hey, how did Lassiter take it when you told him you weren't psychic? I heard from Juliet that he chased you with a gun."

The fake psychic crossed his arms and put his nose in the air. "He did not chase me with a gun. He actually seemed to be more relieved than anything." Shawn threw the last of the garbage in the trash. "To tell you the truth, I am a bit relieved myself. Maybe I should try this truth thing on a regular basis. It's very liberating." Gus could tell that Shawn was only half joking

"Oh yeah, you telling the truth." Gus laughed sarcastically.

Affronted and turning to his friend Shawn stated. "Just call me Mr. Truth from now on."

A knock at the door stopped his rant and both rose to meet their prospective client. Just by his scent Shawn could tell that the man was afraid of something and it was his job to find out what. "Hello, please come in." Shawn ushered the person into the office area. "I'm Shawn Spencer, otherwise known as "Mr. Truth" and this is my associate "He Who Has the Moves…"

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**END NOTES:**

**I am planning on a third in the series as I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. It will be a bit before I get the story out but I do have the title and a bit of a teaser synopsis. If anyone is interested in me letting you know when I put out the third one... just give me a holler.**

**ALSO... I am gonna do a bit of a game. If you can find a line from the theme song in the story...I will send ya an alternate ending that is cool, but just didn't work for the story. Good luck and here is a hint. It is in the flashback. PM me with your guess!  
**

**"Love Lasts Forever, but Sanity Has a Shelf Life"**

**When Shawn goes missing during what was supposed to be a routine stakeout, the gang rallies the troops to find the missing detective. However, when crimes committed by rogue vampires start popping up in Santa Barbara the gang starts to wonder if Shawn is actually the one responsible.**


End file.
